A non-profit, volunteers-run, social experiment to spread awareness of safe food and provide a market for the farmers practising organic farming in and around Pondicherry.
Group of friends living in and around Pondicherry, part of a group "Soil & Life", interested and working in farming, ecology, conservation, social and personal health got an idea of starting a non profit, volunteer based organic store. This idea of a store, we felt, will be a step in the right direction towards doing something concrete and useful to organic farmers by way of providing a platform to sell their produce.
Inspired by the thought and with a nominal contribution from team members a seed fund was created. One of our friends, Anitha generously stepped in and offered her commercial space at Canteen Street, free of cost. The initiative had a humble start on 24th Feb, 2018 and gradually evolved into a well organised activity called "Safe Food Space". We hold a considerable gratitude and thanks to Anitha and her family members for its start.
As the number of customers grew, through word of mouth, we started facing space constraints. The management of Satsanga Restaurant, Pondicherry stepped in and graciously permitted us to use their space, free of cost on Saturday evenings for the activity. We owe a considerable thanks to Mr.Pierre, owner of Satsanga Restaurant for his magnanimity in providing the space for this activity. Murali, one of our friends, offered his godown few kilometers away from Satsanga Restaurant as a storage space to keep the weighing machine and other stuffs used for running this activity.
The activity received wonderful support from friends and public.
Running "Safe Food Space" by connecting people to organic food and helping farmers in selling their produce was a wonderful and fulfilling experience. We were able to meet several socially conscious people and interacting with them was an enriching experience.
Once the rainy season began, we started facing logistical and operational constraints and realised that we needed a permanent space with proper infrastructure to continue further. Reluctantly, the team decided to suspend the “Safe Food Space” activity till a permanent space can be found. The activity was suspended after running successfully for 41 weeks.
At present, we are in search of a place to continue "Safe Food Space". We hope to find a place where we can also conduct workshops about upcycling, minimising consumption and other allied activities which nourish our environment.
We welcome people with interests in working for social and environmental causes to join us. Let's all work together in building a better future.
Please reach us at safefoodspace@gmail.com