Curry Without Worry

Good food, good feelings, good people.

Courtesy of Curry Without Worry

This is the magic that makes it all happen–the perfect balance of the right ingredients to make curry without the worry. Every Tuesday, at the UN Plaza in San Francisco and in downtown Kathmandu, the nonprofit Curry Without Worry serves up fresh hot bowls of curry-tastic altruism, also known as soul-pleasing food to hungry people in need. The organization was founded by Shrawan Nepali, who ventured far from the cubicle of his corporate office back to his native country of Nepal to build a home for underprivileged children. Equipped with eight years of experience in corporate America, an MBA in International Business and a genuine desire to do good, Nepali established Curry Without Worry in 2006 to combat hunger with a celebratory and healthful approach.

As Nepali quickly discovered, hunger is a fickle foe. Hunger does not discriminate by race or class, age or denomination, Kathmandu or San Francisco. As a result, Curry Without Worry defies traditional stigmas surrounding food-aid programs; indeed, the organization encourages those from all walks of life to attend in both cities. This organization seeks to bring together “the have and the have-nots,” writes The New York Times, “to foster a merging of [these] communities.”

Since its creation in 2006, Curry Without Worry has served up hot meals for over 105,000 people in need.

Photo cred: Bay Area Bites

An entirely self-sustainable, volunteer-driven organization, Curry WOW has clocked in over 7,104 volunteer hours and dished up over 100 humanities credits to participating University and high school students. Until now, they’d done it all by hand. “VolunteerLocal was a godsend,” says Jesse Seaver, President of Curry Without Worry. “It was one of those moments when I was searching for the perfect web application for my needs and found it.” VolunteerLocal has assisted Seaver and Nepali to organize and streamline the way they manage their volunteers each week.

When Curry Without Worry had an emergency last-minute kitchen closure last week, VolunteerLocal came to the rescue. “In the past this could have been a disaster with volunteers showing up un-announced. Now that we can schedule, we can easily notify a group of cancellations or modifications to the schedule. Overall, I’m very happy with the application, and thankful to you for making it.”

Namaste to you, Curry WOW…and happy volunteering!

kaylee@volunteerlocal.com

Kaylee Williams is the President of VolunteerLocal, a volunteer scheduling, management and communication platform for organizations of all types and sizes. Williams is passionate about community service and inclusion (diversity) in tech. She is a triathlete, volunteer coach for Girls on the Run, bass guitar player and homebrewer.