Feed the Hungry Today for a Better Tomorrow

Hunger in India is severe. According to Global Hunger Index 2016 report, 39% of India’s children are stunted. What is stunted growth? It refers to reduced growth and development of a child due to (but not limited to) poor nutrition and unhygienic practices. And to add to this, children who are stunted are also believed to experience health issues as they grow.

Today, as we read about it and make ourselves aware of the situation, we all have an opportunity to feed the hungry children – an opportunity to feed children today, for a better tomorrow. At Akshaya Patra, we are striving to achieve two UN Sustainable Development Goals: Zero Hunger and Quality Education. As mentioned in the first paragraph, the organisation is working towards eliminating classroom hunger through Mid-Day Meal Programme (in partnership with Government of India) – an initiative aimed at improving ‘poor nutrition’ levels among school children.

Most of our beneficiaries are dependent on just one square meal served by Akshaya Patra – the meals are freshly cooked in our centralised and decentralised kitchens. As much as mid-day meal acts as an incentive, it is also important for Akshaya Patra that children attend school, learn and become independent in the future. Mid-Day Meal paints an optimistic approach for many families to send their children to school whereas for Akshaya Patra, hygiene and quality are of utmost priority that are not compromised with during preparation of mid-day meals. How does Akshaya Patra manage serving millions of meals on a daily basis? It is due to the support from government, donors and corporates decision to sponsor children that the organisation has been able to effectively operate the Mid-Day Meal Programme across the length and breadth of India.

To maintain effective delivery of mid-day meals, the Foundation uses GPS enabled customised vehicles that can support food temperature. With a growing network of delivery vans and distribution staff, the organisation has been able to deliver meals to over 1.6 million school children across 11 states in India.

The fight to hunger needs to be carried out with a concrete plan. You can play your part by supporting Akshaya Patra from wherever you are. The Food for Education mission aims at realising that both food and education cannot be pursued separately. They need to be seen and sought together. If you think you can be part of a noble cause such as this, you may engage in charity fundraising and donate to charity and win income tax exemption.

Role of NGOs in India in Solving Hunger

Hunger - an epidemic situation among the low-income groups in this world. Hunger – a life threatening situation for everyone especially children.

There are so many food items out there in abundance which will never teach us the real meaning of hunger. Every four hours, we snack on something or probably have full meal to avoid hunger. But there are millions of children out there who struggle for a single meal in a day. We know of many children who are often undernourished as they struggle to get one-time meal during the day. These are also the same children who have no access or inclination towards education.

There are many organisations in India that are playing the role of NGOs and have been trying to address hunger issues. These NGOs act as a channel for people like us to reach out to those in need. One of the leading names is Akshaya Patra that successfully combined food and education wisely so as to reach more and more children with the two basic necessities of life.  The NGO headquartered in Bangalore provides mid- day meals to the children in schools to help them grow and learn with a nutritious diet.

The real meaning of hunger 

Most people associate hunger with quenching the physical need of food. Often when we are hungry, we invariably say – do you have something to eat? We are often vague about food. The only time we truly care about the ingredients of food is while feeding children. The real meaning of hunger for a child differs, and it should. For a child, hunger would mean deprivation of a meal that is instrumental in his physical and mental growth.

Similarly, children have a hunger for their dreams and things that they want. Children have an inherent hunger for knowledge and education. They are curious and wish to quench their thirst for knowledge. The role of NGOs in India thus becomes bigger when it comes to dealing with children’s meal and education issues. Akshaya Patra continues to reach out to millions of children to transform their lives. Also, their work is completely transparent and they make all their information available to public. The organisation strives to quench both physical and mental hunger of children with its mission ‘Food for Education’. When the children get the motivation of a one-time but nutritious meal, they are motivated to come to school. Similarly, parents send all their children to school since they have an assurance that the kids would be fed apart from getting education. This is a progressive model of combining the two missions together which is invariably intertwined. 

Sitting in our offices or comfortable homes, least we can do to help the NGOs such as this by giving what we can. Donating for education in India, especially because it involves supporting the backbone of our country’s future is our contribution to a better society.  All of us do wish to be a part of some noble activity, but our time or job constraints don’t allow us to do so. So here’s our chance to be the game changer in the fight against hunger. All we need to do is make a generous donation to Akshaya Patra and provide children ‘Unlimited Food for Education’. 

Donate today and win tax exemption!

Fascinating World of Akshaya Patra's Mega Kitchens

This photo blog is a visual inspiration for all those who are intrigued and fascinated by our colossal kitchens. This blog will give you an intimate look into an Akshaya Patra kitchen, with photographs of how exactly we accomplish feeding 1.5 million children daily!

22 kitchens

Starts cooking at 3 am

Mid-day meal will be ready by 9 am

To know more about the kitchens, visit: Akshaya Patra's Mega Kitchens

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.

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.

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!

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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Feed the hungry – Fighting malnutrition in India

 

Today malnutrition is an epidemic that affects people in every corner of the world. Predominantly found in third world countries, malnutrition prevents nations struggling to evolve from making progress. India is one of the developing countries that struggle greatly with the issue of malnutrition amongst its population, especially amongst the children.

There are 400 million children residing in India, and of this staggering figure every second child is malnourished.

Malnutrition in children primarily occurs as result of poverty and illiteracy.  Parents who have never had the opportunity to attend school find it difficult to maintain regular, reliable jobs to keep their family financially secure. Without access to enough money to even provide for the family’s basic nutritional needs, children grow up malnourished themselves. They in turn have to take up child labour to support the family at the cost of their education, and the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and malnutrition continues.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation works to combat malnutrition and illiteracy in children through their mid-day meal programme. By providing children with nutritious, tasty food in sufficient quantities, Akshaya Patra has succeeded in bringing children back to school, and improving their health in one move.

Studies of the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal have shown that by regular access to the healthy meals children have shown better concentration and academic progress, increased school enrollment and attendance, better nutrition status and reduced school drop-out rates.

It is important for every able person to lend their time, attention and resources to stop this cycle of poverty and malnutrition plaguing the innocent children of India. To help The Akshaya Patra Foundation provide food for education and eliminate classroom hunger, click to donate online.

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Karnataka NGO Provides Mid Day Meals For School Children

The Akshaya Patra Foundation was started in June 2000 in Bangalore. This Foundation implements the mid day meal programme with the mission of feeding 5 million children by 2020. It drives all its work towards its vision of “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger”. Though it’s primary cause is to provide mid day meal to Government schools, it emphasises equally on education of the children also. The reason being this it is looking forward to expand its reach to more and more parts of the country.

Currently, Akshaya Patra is feeding children in 19 locations of 9 States of India. Every day it feeds 1.3 million children in more than 9000 Government schools. This feeding programme has had many positive impacts like increase in school enrolment, improved attendance, improved concentration and performance of children, and decreased school drop-out rate.

About the Akshaya Patra Foundation - The measure of life is not its duration, but its donation.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a non-profit, Bangalore-based secular trust, evolved the free meal program

in schools in the year 2000. What started as a pilot project in five schools in Bangalore, feeding 1,500 children, has now grown into a mammoth Endeavour covering over 11,98,206 children in over 4,500 government, government aided schools and anganwadis (day care centers) in 18 locations spread across Eight states in India, day after day. This is amongst the largest school meal NGO run program in the world. The foundation expects to reach a magical figure of five million children by 2020.