The path to the Hindu Center of Charlotte takes visitors through a neighborhood of red brick ranch houses built in the 1960s, just off Idlewild Road in east Charlotte. On every weekday at a center for seniors a couple of blocks away, volunteers prepare more than 140 meals for refugees who have trouble adjusting to American pork chops and potato salad.
Standing at the back of the center, Nimish Bhatt greets two college journalists. “My daughters! Welcome!” he says.
Bhatt leads a team of volunteers who help refugees and seniors adjust to life in the United States. The center, known officially as the Universal Institute for Successful Aging of Carolinas, provides temporary housing; navigational services for refugees; educational programs for youth, seniors and women; and the distribution of food and fellowship for seniors. COVID lockdowns in March 2020 accelerated the center’s need for food distribution, and the program has continued at this level since then.
Meals for Refugees
On a recent Monday afternoon in October, volunteers prepared a lunch of roti, dal, basmati rice, aloo matar, mango semolina, and an apple. For people who lack access to a menu from an Indian restaurant, these dishes are flatbread, lentil stew, potato and pea curry, and mango puree.
Queens University News Service photo by Simone Feast
Bhatt explained that every meal contains protein, vegetables, fruit, two grains, and something sweet. “Our goal is to keep these for nutrition and other mental health needs of the seniors when they are alone at home,” he said. “Loneliness is the main issue for seniors being suicidal, anxiety and depression.” Volunteers encourage seniors to sit near the kitchen while meals are prepared. The spices remind them of home, elevate appetites, and help with depression.
The menu is not always Indian, often veering into Italian, African, Asian, and Latin American dishes. The vegetarian diet of most people supported by the center is rooted in fresh ingredients, homegrown vegetables, and ancient grains. A team of about eight people appear at the center at lunchtime, taking time off from their day jobs, to drive the meals to people’s homes and check on how seniors are doing.
Funding for meals comes from county and federal agencies and nonprofit organizations. Government funding will end in 2023 and Bhatt is concerned and focused on how to continue services. The refugee meal service is smaller and more specific than Friendship Trays, which started in Charlotte in 1976 and merged with Loaves and Fishes in March 2021. Friendship Trays distributes meals to about 700 people of all ages, and also provides meals for doctor-prescribed diets.
Indoor and Outdoor Gardens
Gardens at the center also provide seniors with a purpose and help deal with depression, Bhatt said. The center has two indoor gardens consisting of 5-foot-tall plastic columns with pockets for basil, arugula, bibb lettuce, green onions and other herbs and greens. The columns enable seniors in wheelchairs to take care of the plants.
Queens University News Service photo by Palmer Magri
Outside the house, Bhatt provided a tour of a small garden filled with tomatoes, onions, and peppers, grown for inclusion in the daily meal distribution. Both gardens bring people together and teach them about growth and humanity, Bhatt said.
For People Who Experienced Trauma, Reminders of Light
Nimish knows firsthand the struggles faced by people uprooted from home and dropped into another culture. The volunteer staff frequently deals with refugees from Southeast Asia and Africa, many of whom have never seen a western stove, upright toilet, or shower.
Bhatt explained that the center serves as a reminder of goodness, humanity and light for people who have experienced high levels of trauma.
The center recognizes the importance of honoring the culture of the people it serves. During the week before the Hindu festival of Diwali, the center’s volunteer staff was preparing a meal tailored to the holiday. Almost 32,000 residents of Mecklenburg County were born in India, according to 2019 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. Bhatt explained that before businesses began capitalizing on Diwali, it was a simple fall celebration of changing weather and harvest time, with new grains coming to market.
“It is more of the festivity of light over evilness,” Bhatt said. “The evilness is within everybody, like greed, lust and anger. All that we want to forget and to be in harmony with each other, sharing our best abilities we can.”
Palmer Magri
Managing Editor
Simone Feast
Managing Editor
Queens University News Service
