How to Get involved with Akshaya Patra Children Charity

Every now and then we ask how we could contribute to making the world a better place. At Akshaya Patra, we give supporters the chance to help the future of India. The several volunteering opportunities available at Akshaya Patra give supporters the opportunity to work in partnership with the organisation without interfering with their day-to-day activities and responsibilities.

There are several ways to volunteer with the organisation:

CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) opportunities- By supporting Akshaya Patra’s goal of providing food for education, any CSR activity will benefit school children in India. Our tie-ups with several philanthropic partners include generous contributions through funds and in-kind. Akshaya Patra welcomes strategic cause-marketing initiatives, innovation and project solutions for the children. 

  

Volunteer opportunities- Being an online supporter will help spread Akshaya Patra’s message across the world. Promoting the cause on various social media platforms brings awareness about the Foundation’s work. To nurture good relationships between supporters and the organisation, Akshaya Patra welcomes sharing and implementing innovative fundraising ideas which can be done at home, at school or in the community. If you are a budding scribe or a social media junkie who wants to make a difference, join Akshaya Patra’s online platforms.

Fundraise with Akshaya Patra- With collaborated efforts, reaching any goal will be made easy. To make a difference in the lives of children, supporters can fundraise by creating a campaign for Akshaya Patra. With active fundraising campaigns also running in parallel, supporters can join any of those campaigns and make a contribution towards the cause.  

Partnerships – Since its inception in 2000, Akshaya Patra has worked closely with reputed individuals and companies. Aiming to build strong ties, the Foundation encourages partnerships with the vision of ending classroom hunger in India. If interested kindly write to in to infodesk@akshayapatra.org .

With the mission to feed 5 million children by 2020, Akshaya Patra encourages individuals to join forces with the organisation and work towards uplifting the underserved children in India.

To know more about the opportunities, visit Akshaya Patra Get Involved.

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The Akshaya Patra Foundation, NGO in India has implemented the mid-day meal scheme to feed the future of India. The organization is feeding the government school children of 24 locations across 10 states in India.

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Charity and festivity

India is known for its varied culture and festivities. Aside the regular festivals it is also a destination for splendid weddings and receptions. Not just Indians but foreign nationals too choose India to be the address for their weddings. Behind the brighter appearance of these celebrations and festivals, there exists a gripping reality of enormous food wastage and concerning hunger struck population.

To slightly mitigate the two stark situations, there are NGOs that work towards procuring the left-over food of the celebrations and distribute among the needy. However, this does not provide a permanent solution to the hunger situation prevailing in the country. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a NGO that implements the mid-day meal programme across Government schools in India. This Foundation prepares fresh and nutritious meals for Government school children. It also provides meals at Anganwadi centres under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). Akshaya Patra has observed that to tackle the critical situation of hunger it has to be dealt with at the root cause i.e. poverty. Thus, by providing mid-day meal to children it also incentivises the child to attend school regularly which in turn allows the child to receive education. In line with this, Akshaya Patra ensures that the meal served should meet the local palate of the children.

Having been implementing the midday meal programme well over a decade, Akshaya Patra has amply gauged the potential of societal involvement in countering hunger and promoting education thereby resulting in eradication of poverty. Thus Akshaya Patra has made available the platform to volunteer and contribute in all possible ways. One of the ways to get involved with the activities of the Foundation is to make a charity during festivals and celebrations like weddings, birthdays, success parties and the like. As we gear up for celebrations, more often than not we miss out to consider our counterparts who struggle each day to get a plateful of meal. Remaining sensitive to the basic need of food, you can choose to make a donation for the underserved children as you revel in your festivity.

Your contribution will be a gift for the millions of children who too hopes to on day break the shackles of poverty, hunger and illiteracy.

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Feeding the future of India

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an Indian NGO implementing the Central Mid-Day Meal Scheme across Government schools. It was initiated in the year 2000 in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Initially it began feeding in five Government schools of the Bengaluru city. Witnessing the overwhelming response for the need of the programme, Akshaya Patra strategically began expanding its operations to other parts of the state and eventually to other states of India. Currently, Akshaya Patra is feeding Government school children of 24 locations across 10 states namely: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. In total, Akshaya Patra feeds more than 1.4 million children every day across the country.

These beneficiaries come from humble background but bring with them high aspirations. They are determined enough to not let their unfavourable socio-economic status come as a hurdle when it is the question of pursuing their dreams. At Akshaya Patra, each meal has its own unique story. Hence, the NGO ensures that it provides nutritious, hygienic and tasty food on each day. It also designs its menu based on the location to cater to the local palate. For example: the menu of Akshaya Patra kitchen at Karnataka will cater to South Indian palate whereas the menu item of Akshaya Patra Gujarat will cater to North Indian palate.

Over the years of implementation of mid-day meal, the Government of India along with partner NGOs has witnessed positive impact on the growth, development and regularity to school among children. Studies have also brought to fore that there has been increase in enrolment and attendance, also decreasing the rate of dropout. Mid-Day Meal Scheme has shown significant results in countering classroom hunger among children. These positive alterations during the growth years of children give them the confidence to lead a self-sustaining life in the future. It instils in them the determination and certainty of being able to come out of the vicious cycle of poverty, hunger and illiteracy.

Join Akshaya Patra in feeding the future of India and creating sustainable assets.

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Impact of mid-day meal on growing children

Over the years, the Mid-Day Meal Scheme has proved itself to be a supporting pillar in the overall development of children even at the grass root level of the society. The Scheme that was initiated by Government of India is being implemented by various Non-Governmental Organisations too. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one among the various NGOs. Akshaya Patra began providing school lunch at five Government schools in Bengaluru city of Karnataka in 2000. This was even before the official central mandate in 2003 by the Government of India to provide free cooked mid-day meal at all Government schools. But after the mandate was passed, Akshaya Patra partnered with the Government of India in providing cooked meals at schools. Since then, Akshaya Patra has been working in a Public-Private Partnership model to achieve the six objectives of the Central Mid-Day Meal Scheme i.e.:

• Eliminating classroom hunger
• Increasing school enrolment
• Increasing school attendance
• Improving socialization among castes 
• Addressing malnutrition, and
• Women empowerment

During the course of implementing the mid-day meal programme for 15 years now, Akshaya Patra has also conducted impact studies of the programme in association with noted research organisations. The Akshaya Patra kitchen process and operations has also become a part of prestigious institutes like Harvard Business School. Below are mention of few impact studies that clearly showcase the significance and potential of the mid-day meal programme in eliminating classroom hunger, improving child health and also increasing enrolment and concentration of children.

• ‘Assessment of Mid-Day Meal Programme In 8 States’ by Sigma Research and Consulting Pvt. Ltd.
• ‘Impact Assessment Study Report of The Akshaya Patra Foundation - HPCL Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects (2012-13)’ by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)
• ‘Report on Measuring the Impact of Mid- Day-Meal on Child Growth’ by Department of Public Health Manipal University
• ‘Evaluation of the Mid-Day Meal Programme – June 2012’ by Kusuma Trust U.K.
• ‘Impact study 2012’ by Edumedia
• ‘Impact Assessment of The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s Mid-Day Meal Programme 2010’ by A.C. Nielsen
• ‘Akshaya Patra: Feeding India's School Children’ by Harvard business school

A click on Akshaya Patra Impact Studies will take you to the details of each of the above mentioned studies. To support Akshaya Patra, donate online to charity.

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Bollywood Star Ranveer Singh campaigns for Akshaya Patra!

Since inception in June 2000, Akshaya Patra has seen involvement of people from all walks of life towards the noble cause of feeding children. Akshaya Patra always provides a platform for existing supporters as well as invites new supporters to get involved in nation building through feeding the young hearts. Over the years of implementing the mid-day meal programme, Akshaya Patra has witnessed that each meal has its own story and each beneficiary has his or her own special dream. Thus the Foundation has always thrived to provide quality, hygienic and tasty mid-day meal each day to each of the beneficiaries.

Currently, Akshaya Patra is operational in 24 locations of 10 states. Each day, Akshaya Patra feeds mid-day meal to more than 1.4 million children across Government schools. It aims to feed 5 million children by 2020. The task indeed is humongous but not unattainable. Working towards the mission, Akshaya Patra welcomes participation from each member of the country. The participation could be in the form of skill, time, funds, awareness creation or even volunteering. The recent partnership with Ching’s Secret is an exemplary one as it has brought in Ranveer Singh, the Brand Ambassador of Ching’s Secret and popular Bollywood Star to campaign for Akshaya Patra.

Ranveer has been actively involved in the planning and execution of the campaign called 'India Ke Hunger Ki Bajao'. The campaign aims to feed at least 1 million children across the country. Ranveer’s sincere support towards the children was witnessed as he offered his support to 10,000 children and sponsored their mid-day meals for an entire year at the launch of the campaign. Along with Akshaya Patra beneficiaries as Ranveer appeals in this video it just takes 10 seconds and a minimum amount of Rs. 750 to feed a child for an entire year. This amount has the potential to nourish and change the life of millions of young citizens. The campaign will receive broadcast in television, radio and digital platforms. It is also being supported by well-known brands like Yash Raj Films, India TV, Red FM, Reliance Fresh, Patel Bros., Paytm, Choitrams and Fluence.

Managing Director of Capital Foods (Ching's Secret's parent company), Ajay Gupta opines that it’s time to give back to the society and education of children will definitely lead to a better future of the country. Ranveer Singh too adds that he loves kids and being able to be involved with the cause of Akshaya Patra gives him immense joy. He believes that being the role of Indian youth, he will be able to spread the message and bring in maximum participation for the cause.

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