Sri Agathiar Sanmaarga Charitable Trust came into being in the year 1989 in Trichy. This trust is the brain-child of the Holy Sri Agathiar Swami. Ever since the trust came into being, it has worked towards feeding the poor and those who cannot afford even one square meal a day. The Trust has a presence in Coimbatore city too.

In Coimbatore, the volunteers and core members prepare healthy rice gruel (kanji) from rice everyday and the gruel it is distributed to the poor. D. Ramkumar, co-partner of The Coimbatore Papers, is in-charge of the Coimbatore chapter of Sri Agathiar Sanmaarga Charitable Trust. “Initially we used to make gruel from about 100 kilograms of rice. However, currently we make gruel and serve it to more than 5,000 people,” Ramkumar says.

The gruel, we are told, is made on the property owned by The Coimbatore Papers unit in Kuniyamuthur, Coimbatore. The trust has employed nine full-time employees who make the healthy gruel in three batches everyday. The gruel is transported in three vehicles, owned by the trust, to three locations in Coimbatore – Coimbatore Government Hospital, Raja Street, and the Uzhavar Santhai (vegetable market) in R.S. Puram.

As part of their future plans, the trust plans to organize medical camps in multiple locations all over Coimbatore.