Healthy Food for Children is Crucial for Development

All the major developments of the body and brain take place at childhood.  Therefore, lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes and whole grains are essential in the food for children to ensure their healthy development. However, the reality is that not all the children in India have access to proper nutrition, especially in their formative years, in fact millions still don’t. The silver lining is that the situation has become far better than what it was used to be, largely thanks to the efforts of various NGOs for children and people who donate to charity.

Healthy food for children is important for several reasons:

• Early childhood - from birth to eight years is one of the most critical periods in children’s growth. It is during this period children grow fast and acquire all their basic skills including language, socio-emotional development (attachment, sense of right and wrong); and fine (ability to hold pencils) and gross (balance, skip) motor skills. Vital nutrients in fruits and vegetables like vitamin C, vitamin A, fibre, folate, potassium, magnesium and phytochemicals help keep the body and mind healthy. This is why doctors and health experts specify on including more fruits and vegetables in food for children.
• Countless studies in the past have also highlighted importance of healthy eating during childhood.  A balanced diet has been shown to increase brain function, improve behaviour and concentration of students and improve children’s learning capacity and academic performance.  According to the World Health Organization (WHO), healthy nutrition also protects children against obesity and chronic diseases like cancer, eating disorders and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, following a healthy diet during the early stages of growth also helps one remain healthy in adulthood and at old age. 

On the other hand, chronic malnutrition has been proved to leave irreversible damage on children, both in their physical and mental development. UNICEF states that about 7.6 million children around the world die before age five. Around 200 million children manage to survive; but fail to reach full human potential due to various reasons like poor nutrition, inadequate care and lack of opportunities.  According to the experts, early intervention by giving opportunities to overcome these issues can yield promising results and help improve survival, growth, health and other areas of early development.

In India, effort to provide opportunities to underserved children was initiated through many NGO for children like The Akshaya Patra Foundation. With the help of individuals who donate to charity, Akshaya Patra has been providing nutritious food for children since 2000.

Giving children the opportunity to attend school regularly, the organisation currently delivers freshly cooked nutritious meals to over 1.4 million children every day. The NGO for children aims at providing more food for children by expanding its reach to 5 million students by 2020.

To help make this happen, join Akshaya Patra and donate to charity. Your support will ensure more children get wholesome meals every day in government and government aided schools, and get the opportunity to grow physically and mentally strong.

Support a Child and Avail 100% Income Tax Exemption

We’ve all been hungry before, but very few of us have had to go days between eating a complete meal. Millions of children across India experience debilitating hunger every day, and are forced to focus all their energy on simply earning enough money for a single meal. In a situation like this, children cannot even consider getting educated or enjoying their lives in any way.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a top NGO in India, has been trying hard since the year 2000 to ensure that no child in India misses an opportunity to attend school due to hunger.  The freshly cooked nutritious meals served by the NGO have helped bring over a million children back to school. Today, over 1.4 million children in 10 states in India receive mid-day meals from Akshaya Patra. Apart from improving children’s nutritional status, the mid-day meals have helped improve school enrolment, classroom attendance, concentration levels and performance.

The credit for the children’s improved nutrition and education goes primarily to people who make the charitable trust donation. In return, Akshaya Patra also gives some benefits to its well-wishers. A charitable trust donation of ₹500 or above, made to support Akshaya Patra’s Mid-Day Meal Programme gets you a 100% income tax exemption in India under Section 35 AC or 50% under section 80G of the Income Tax act.  Within 10 days of making the donation, the donor will receive an income tax exemption certificate from Akshaya Patra.

As a next step, the organisation wants to feed 5 million children by 2020 and you can help it reach its goal. Support the programme generously with charitable trust donation and fulfil children’s dreams.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s 15 Years of Service

With the vision ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’, The Akshaya Patra Foundation set forth its journey in June 2000. It began implementing the Mid-Day Meal Programme by feeding just 1,500 children in five government schools of Bengaluru city. Over the service of 15 years the beneficiary of the NGO has increased to nearly 15 lakhs and it is operational in 24 locations across 10 states of India. As The Akshaya Patra Foundation gets ready for celebrating 15 years of service towards children, it acknowledges the support and aid it has received from generous and sympathetic supporters like you.  It also acknowledges that without the philanthropic support that the Foundation has received over the years such a leap in beneficiary base and operational expansion would not have been possible. We express our heartfelt gratitude to all of you for having journeyed with us for over a decade.

In order to further the potential and reach of the Mid-Day Meal Programme, Akshaya Patra brings together dedication, technological innovation, standard operational processes and good governance into practice. The amalgamation of all these elements allows the Foundation to serve clean, hygienic, freshly cooked nutritious meal to lakhs of children every day across all locations. To get a quick review of the past 15 years and the distance we have covered in reaching our mission of feeding 5 million children by 2020, join us in celebrating 15 years of service through which lakhs of underserved children received the goodness of food and much needed education.

Click a Smile to Win Akshaya Patra’s Online Photo Contest

Nothing in this world is as beautiful as a child’s smile. Interestingly, now these innocent smiles can help you win! All you have to do is take part in ‘Click a Smile,’ the online photo contest organized by The Akshaya Patra Foundation and post picture of a smiling child or a group of happy children.

The Akshaya Patra photography contest is open to all those people who have chosen photography either as their profession or as a hobby. Contestants of photo competition 2015 can submit up to three photographs clicked by them. The photographs can be either in colour or in black and white. The photographs should be original, less than 4 MB in size and should have a minimum resolution of 800 pixels.

All the photographs registered for the competition will go through the hands of a panel of judges, who will analyse them according to their content, composition, sensitivity, creativity and style.  The best three photographs will be awarded with a trophy and gift voucher.  The top 50 photographs will be later exhibited for public viewing.

This year, the entries will be judged by Kanick Samuel, who is a Senior Creative Director at J Walter Thompson, Bangalore; Suresh V.B., a professional Photographer and Vicky Roy, a documentary photographer.

The Click a Smile photo competition 2015 is already on and you can send your best shots on or before 22nd December, 2015. 

Click a Smile contest received over 1,500 entries from 50 countries in 2014. So now it’s your turn- open your third eye and capture the best smile in your area.

Gift a Meal this Diwali

Diwali, the festival of lights, marks victory of light over darkness. On this occasion, we decorate our homes, wear new clothes and spend time with our loved ones. The festival, in a way, also highlights the joy of giving.  This is the reason, why we exchange sweets and gifts with our neighbours and friends on Diwali.

When each one of us tries to make Diwali a memorable experience, there are some young children in India who struggle to meet their basic necessities including food and education. The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a leading NGO in India, has been trying to make a change in this picture over the past 15 years.  In fact, the organisation has grown from feeding 1500 children to nearly 15 lakh in 15 years! This year, we have cause for double celebration with both Diwali and the Akshaya Patra 15 year anniversary falling on November 11! 

A major part of Akshaya Patra’s growth and success can be attributed to the support and encouragement the organisation has received from its well-wishers.  Akshaya Patra is now working to fulfil its mission of feeding 5 million school children by 2020.

On the occasion of the Akshaya Patra 15 years anniversary, let us provide opportunities to keep our children free from hunger.  Enjoy the joy of gifting by making festival donations to this worthy cause.

Akshaya Patra uses Technology to Feed Millions

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is the world’s largest Mid-Day Meal Programme. The Foundation was borne out of a desire that children should not have to choose between hunger and education. Therefore from the vision that ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’ Akshaya Patra was started in the year 2000. Beginning with feeding just 1,500 children across 5 schools in Bengaluru, today the Foundation has grown to feed over 1.4 million children across 24 locations, and 10 states of India.

Akshaya Patra aims to end classroom hunger in India through mid-day meal programme. Leveraging technology to facilitate large scale cooking in a short amount of time, The Akshaya Patra Foundation has served as a case study to prestigious institutes for its operations model. Based on a successful Public-Private Partnership model with the Central and State Governments of India, corporates, donors and other stake holders, the Foundation has managed to scale up and sustain its operations over the past 15 years.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation also uses innovative technology to maintain absolute hygiene and efficiency in its practices. 22 of the 24 kitchens are centralised, and are highly mechanised. This reduces human contact with the food to a large extent, ensuring that the food remains safe and hygienic throughout the cooking process. At Akshaya Patra it is also understood that the food must be enjoyable too, therefore the organisation follows a North and South Indian menu to suit the local palate.

To end child hunger in India, the support from the society plays an important role. Support Us.

Akshaya Patra’s Message on World Food Day

As observed every year, the World Food Day will take place on 16 October. The vital objective is to make people aware about hunger challenges and encourage them to take action.

The theme this year is “Social protection and Agriculture”, defining the role social protection in reducing chronic food insecurity and poverty.  It aims to ensure direct access or the means to buy food.  It is also a practical alternative for stimulating agricultural production and local economy.

Many themes gained prominence each year but the entire focus is to find a way to eradicate hunger altogether. Because, it is a fundamental right to be free from hunger and the right to adequate food. The right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child has the access to adequate food or means for its procurement at all times.

Many NGOs and innovative companies are partaking in the attempt to counter hunger by taking responsibility of one of the various initiatives developed by the Government. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one such NGO that implements the Mid-Day Meal Scheme across 10 states benefiting over 1.4 million children every day. By providing mid-day meal, it aims to bridge the gap of inaccessibility to wholesome meal during the growing years of underserved children. As children have to attend to school to benefit from the mid-day meal, it also incentivises children to read and learn, thereby developing them into self-sustainable citizens of the nation.

Not just government or NGOs, it is the responsibility of each individual to ensure that children who are the future of the nation have access to nutritious food every day. You can start by supporting Akshaya Patra serve millions of children in schools every day.

Fighting Malnutrition Back

It’s indeed sad to know that 42.5 percent of children in India are malnourished, means every second child is underserved. While 11% of the population is over nourished. The number of malnourished children in India is the highest across the world. Does India have less food when compared to the rest of the nations? No

It’s a paradox of abundance and diversity between the rich and poor is huge. The situation is really grave and people need to act fast. Many programmes have been initiated with the same objective of feeding every child of India. The Mid-day meal scheme by The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one amongst them.

The organisation is dedicated to fighting hunger and malnutrition in India. By implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in government schools and government aided schools, Akshaya Patra aims to provide nutritious food to children as well as promote education every day.

Operating kitchens in 24 locations across 10 states in India, It caters to over 1.4 million children every day. The number is huge by all account but it still has a long way to go when India comes into the picture. There are millions of children still underserved and malnourished and without access to proper education. To see an India where classroom hunger is history and every child is well fed, healthy and smart, people intervention is of utmost importance.

The fight cannot be a one organisation’s battle. It has to a coordinated approach with proper support and funding. The programme is of course expanding successfully due to the crucial and fruitful partnership with the Government of India and various State Governments, and support people from every walk of life.

Akshaya Patra believes in eliminating classroom hunger from India and preventing malnutrition from creeping up and affecting children through its tireless effort. But, the reality can only happen when you join the cause and fight together against this social evil.

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Nutrition for Children on Nutrition Week

Today India is a one of the fastest developing economy in the world. But for the progress, it is stained by malnutrition of millions of its people especially children. India is home to 400 million children, out of which every second child is malnourished due to lack of proper nutrition. Nutritious food is essential for children’s growth and health. Food nutrition and health are connected to the core.

Classroom hunger is a serious issue in India. Hunger keeps children away from school. They cannot concentrate or analyse information when their bellies are starved of food. The solution is to provide food for children in school and ensure that they get nutrition in schools. The mid-day meal programme of the Government of India, taken up by NGOs across the country aims to food nutrition and ensuring health. The Akshaya Patra Foundation in aegis with governments provides the free, tasty and nutritious mid-day meal at government, and government aided schools.

This food for children acts as an incentive for parents to send their children to school. It combats malnutrition in children and provides access to education too. By gaining regular access to sufficient nutrition in schools, the children have shown better concentration in class and academic progress; attendance have improved as well as school enrolment and school dropout rates have decreased.

The Akshaya Patra Kitchen maintains proper quality and food safety. At every stage of the operations process quality measures are implemented to make the Akshaya Patra food safe, nutritious and tasty.

With the determined efforts of the Government of India, corporates, donors and other well-wishers, India can one day achieve a hunger free society.

This Nutrition week provides all an opportunity to donate to charity and help the children. One can make adonation this week and ensure children to get proper nutrition. Donate to ngo, Akshaya Patra which is implementing the Mid-Day Meal Programme in order to eliminate classroom hunger.

Let’s make a pledge to donate to help children get proper nutrition and education today!

Many Ways to Carry a Cause!

Being a responsible citizen means being aware of what the society needs and contributing towards its betterment. Several limitations hinder one’s willingness to take action. In order to tackle these and give you the opportunity to support by taking part as volunteers or participate in a volunteering exercise to help school children in India, The Akshaya Patra Foundation has made volunteering provisions that give you the freedom to spread our message without disturbing your schedule.

You can be an online ambassador of the organisation—If you have the passion and the spark within to help a cause, You can bring smiles on children’s faces without disturbing our daily duties. You just have to sign up as web advocate for Akshaya Patra. Then, you can forward our mailers to friends and associates and help in spreading the word further. You can follow our social media sites and request friends to do the same. Another way to boost the cause is introducing the organisation to online communities and fan clubs and more. You shall have access to banners, wallpapers and many creative to promote the foundation too. If you are active on twitter, you can retweet a tweet done by us. Join our Google plus circle, share our youtube videos, there many things you can get involved in to support.

Writing an article or blog about the foundation is another cool way to communicate to the public about the programme. You can send us the blog post or article and we can publish it on the official website. The more writers there are the more storytellers Akshaya Patra will get!

Online fundraising is another very effective way to support an NGO. You can register yourself as an online fund raiser. All the donations will go to providing mid-day meal to the school children.

Apart from everything else, you are free to be creative and suggest ideas and measures which we can implement to carry the cause of Akshaya Patra forward. All you need is some time and the willingness to make a change in children’s lives.

So, when shall we start?

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Looking into the beneficiaries of Akshaya Patra

An NGO in India is providing nutritious food for children every day. What is the impact of the endeavour? You have to meet a few children to decide for yourself. The Akshaya Patra Foundation currently feeds millions of children in its effort to eliminate classroom hunger. It also tries to make a direct connection with the beneficiary children— look into their lives, know more about them and see if the programme of delivering school meals every day is helping them or not.

Let’s meet Yashoda, a 12-year-old girl with an aspiration to become a teacher. She is bright student and one of the toppers in her batch. She had recently lost her father. Yashoda’s mother, a home maker till the demise of her husband, has started working at a garment industry to support the family. Yashoda says, “My father’s wish was that I become a lecturer at a college and educate students. He inspired me and I want to do my best.” She is determined to become a teacher. Yashoda also wants to help society. She wants to educate the less fortunate too when she becomes a teacher. Akshaya Patra serves nutritious mid-day meal at her school every day and she loves pulao. She is also aware that the vegetables served by Akshaya Patra are good for health.

Know more about Yashoda @ Akshaya Patra Beneficiary

Now let’s say cheers to Venu who never misses school on Thursday because of Aloo (Potato) Biryani (mixed rice dish) served by Akshaya Patra on that day every week. Normally Venu likes the food provided by Akshaya Patra every day but, Biryani is his favourite. Venu is a fifth standard student who likes English and wants to be an engineer. He is a bright, hardworking boy whose younger brother and elder sister are also studying at the same school. This means all the siblings are beneficiaries of the Mid-Day Meal Programme.

Know more about Venu @ Stories of Children

Before making a closing note it better to meet another child. Here is Soujanya, an eighth standard class topper, who loves maths and aspires to become a maths teacher. Her amity with numbers started at an early age when she realised she is good with it. She wants to be perfect with the subject. About Akshaya Patra, she says, “I’m lucky to have the meals. It is nutritious and tasty. It helps me concentrate in class.” She is particularly fond of the fruits and loves the biryani served every Thursday.

Know more about Soujanya @ Akshaya Patra Success stories of Children

Think about stories of millions of children like Yashoda, Venu and Soujanya. Many of these children generally belong to economically challenged family backgrounds. A nutritious meal at school every day is a relief to the families too, knowing that their children are well fed in school. Children need good nutrition at this time in their lives for proper growth and cognitive development. It’s a crucial time which is never coming back. If we have to do something, we have to do it now!

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What drives people to connect and contribute to a NGO?

What is the NGO all about? What does it do? Is it making a difference? How is it using funds in what it does? Why is it doing, what it does? Can it be trusted? These are a few of the palpable questions in one’s mind before making decision to act upon supporting a NGO.

 As Akshaya Patra, as a world renowned NGO, what is the impact we are generating to make people act and help it make a change? What is our identity? It says we run the world largest NGO-run mid-day meal programme. The answer itself gives birth to many more questions which need to be answered. Are we building a personal connect with the people? When we say we are feeding millions of children in an effort to eliminate classroom hunger. When we say we nourish minds and nurture dreams. When we say we provide unlimited food for education. Are those enough to paint a real picture?

Questions need to be answered at the right time with the right information so the organisation stands out amongst other. Many people support because they connect with the work Akshaya Patra does. Helping children every day with nutritious food, yes! It builds that connection with many people. But there are others who look in for more before they decide to lend a hand. Some try to find out what’s in for them. One may say,

“Yes! I am making a difference in children’s lives for the better is good enough for me.”

Or the fact that one get 100% tax exemption when one makes a donation above rs.500 make a positive impact to react. Or issues The Akshaya Patra Foundation is constantly trying to mitigate make one extend a helping hand. Some people asked about how the funds are spent, and Akshaya Patra has proper and unadulterated answers which make people get a clear picture. That does make a good impression. Akshaya Patra is the only NGO to be inducted in the ICAI Hall of Fame for winning the Gold Shield Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting five years in a row. That shows the commitment the organisation has on being transparent.

Akshaya Patra as an NGO in India needs to answer any and every questions related to its work and cause because that is what will drive people to connect and contribute to the organisation.

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