1000 Free Meals Daily by South Asian Community

NORCROSS, GA - The Global Mall in Norcross, GA and restaurant group Walia Hospitality Group teamed up to provide 9000 Free Meals over 3 weeks during the global pandemic in efforts to help families in need, frontline workers and shelters.

The Free Meals Drive was held every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday for 3 weeks between April 15th, 2020 thru May 3, 2020 from 11:30am to 3:00pm.

Owing to an overwhelming response to the drive on day one with hundreds of cars lining up ahead of time at 10 a.m., wrapped around the building backing up traffic on Jimmy Carter Boulevard, the organizers launched a Facebook Fundraiser, raising $20,000 within 24 hours by over 200 donors. A special thank you to the generous donations from the Rotary Club of Emory Druid Hills, GAPI and Dr. Jagdish Sheth.

The drive started with a thought from the Owner of Global Mall, Shiv Aggarwal who says “Global Mall has always taken pride in giving back to the community and during these unprecedented times we needed to do something and food was the best way to help. We are fortunate to have tenants like Ricky [Walia] who stepped up to partner in this cause.”

Ricky Walia, owner of Walia Hospitality Group with restaurants Ashiana, Cafe Bombay and Masti prepared the hot meals for the drive each day. He says “It’s impacted us all over the board. We are blessed that we are able to set up and help people that are in need right now.”

“It’s amazing to see what we can accomplish when we band together as a community.” Vandana Aggarwal, one of the organizers, said.

“The fundamental issue here is compassion and care,” said one recipient of a hot meal.

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