No Food Waste facts for kids
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| Founded | 16 October 2014 |
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| Founder | Padmanaban Gopalan, Dinesh Manickam and Sudhakar Mohan |
| Founded at | Coimbatore |
| Type | NGO |
| Headquarters | Coimbatore |
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No Food Waste (NFW) is a special group that helps people. It started as a movement and became an NGO. Three friends, Padmanaban Gopalan, Dinesh Manickam, and Sudhakar Mohan, began it. Their main goal is to stop hunger.
The team at No Food Waste looks for places with extra food. This includes wedding halls, schools, and homes. They collect this extra food. Then, they carefully repackage it. Finally, they give it to people who need it most. In 2017, they were giving out about 600 plates of food every day!
How No Food Waste Helps
No Food Waste started in Coimbatore, a city in India. Now, their helpful work has grown. They reach many other areas. These include districts in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.
They use different ways to connect with people. They have a special phone number, called a hotline. They also created a helpful app. If someone has extra food, they can use this app to let NFW know. A volunteer from the group gets the message. The volunteer then picks up the food. The app also helps find places where people are hungry. It uses information from many people to understand where help is needed.
Amazing Awards and Recognition
No Food Waste and its founder, Padmanaban Gopalan, have received many awards. These awards celebrate their great work.
- They won the Social Entrepreneur Award from ICCI.
- They received a national award called Rashtriya Swayam Siddh Samman. This was from JSPL Foundation and the United Nations Global Compact Network India.
- The Pollination Project of California gave them the International Visionary Award for 2015.
- Their work was shared at the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium.
- Padmanaban Gopalan received the Chief Minister’s State Youth Award. This award from the Government of Tamil Nadu was for his work with No Food Waste.
- They earned the Commonwealth Youth Award. This was for helping with the United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goal 02, which is "Zero Hunger."
- Padmanaban Gopalan presented No Food Waste at the Science, Technology & Innovation Forum (STI) 2019. This event was organized by the United Nations.
- In 2019, Padmanaban Gopalan also won the National Youth Award. This award was given by the Government of India for his efforts with No Food Waste.
