Even Kidney Failure Couldn’t Stop This Man From Serving 200+ People In Dhanbad

Story

Every evening at 7 PM near Dhanbad station, a small crowd begins to gather: hungry children, abandoned elderly, the handicapped and homeless. They don’t come to beg. They come knowing they’ll be served a warm, home-cooked meal every day without fail. 

What began as a simple gesture of offering biscuits to street kids during evening tea breaks in 2017 has today turned into a life-changing initiative that feeds over 200 people every single day.          

Seven months in a Coma after kidney failure

In 2015, Ravi went into a coma for seven months after kidney failure. He underwent a transplant and recovered, but the experience changed him forever. “I saw how hard it is for patients and their families to even get one meal. Everything is expensive. Blood, medicine, even food,” he says. “They often skip meals to save every penny they can for hospital bills. That made me stronger. I knew I had to do more and in 2017 it all fell into place.” - Ravi

Charity began at home                                           

"I used to go to the station with my friends for chai when we saw kids begging for food. I started giving them biscuits. One day, I thought, why not collect extra food from home and share that instead?" recalls Ravi Shekar, founder of Roti Bank

He started small, collecting food from his own house and a few friends. As word spread, more people from his neighbourhood joined in. A video of their work went viral on Facebook, and soon the Indian School of Mines (ISM) reached out to help. Bigger events like weddings and birthdays became a source of leftover food.

                                           

Every time I need my ‘why’ to go on, I recall their story

“When we started, there was a woman with 4 children at the station. Her children were barely above 5 years, and each one of them looked malnourished. When asked, she said that her husband had passed away and they hadn’t eaten in days. Every time I need my ‘why’ to go on, I recall their story. Due to the roti bank, they survived, and it keeps me going.” - Ravi

Roti Bank is a hope for a lot of people who do odd jobs in and around the railway station, barely earning enough to fill their stomachs.

One Woman, 7 hours of continuous cooking

By 2018, Ravi and his team set up a rasoi (kitchen) of their own. Now, food is freshly prepared every day and is served at the station. “People wait for us there. They know they’ll get food. That trust means everything to us,” says Ravi.

But running a kitchen isn't easy. Currently, all the rotis are made by just one woman, who cooks from 11 AM until evening, making rotis and curry for 200 people every single day. “By the end of the day, my hands ache, but I go on. I want my children to have a better life, go to school and study well.”- Ravi

Beyond COVID and food

Even during COVID, when he needed dialysis regularly. Ravi didn’t stop. They distributed two meals a day across Dhanbad, arranged 183 oxygen cylinders, and even helped cremate 74 unclaimed or abandoned bodies.

“Right after my dialysis, I would head out to the city and distribute food. Times were worse than normal, and the city needed me and the Roti Bank more than ever.” - Ravi

Beyond food, Ravi also works for other causes. He has been running city-wide blood donation drives since 2019, delivering monthly ration kits to 14 elderly households, and helping 213 girls get married.

Now, Ravi needs your help to keep going

The Roti Bank is looking to raise ₹10 lakhs to buy a roti-making machine and fund groceries. “We desperately need a roti-making machine. Right now, just one woman is making hundreds of rotis by hand every day, and the machine would ease her work immensely. We also need groceries. The number of people who come to us is growing, but our resources are not. We don’t want to turn anyone away hungry. This is not just about food,” Ravi says.