The Dream Diaries of Akshaya Patra’s Beneficiaries

Giving Every Dream a Chance – Shekar, The Budding Chef

“When you are sad or feeling low, good food will always make you feel better.”

When children dream, it is limitless. For Shekar, the dream of becoming a chef and working in the kitchen of a high-end hotel is an excitement feeling in itself. Akshaya Patra’s initiative turned the 14-year-old boy’s dream into an opportunity by charting a month-long mentorship programme, where he developed his skills under the watchful eyes of Chef Ramasamy Selvaraju of the Vivanta by Taj. For a recipe to be successful, it’s important that all ingredients are carefully added and blend well.  In this short film, you will see that the two most important ingredients for Shekar, opportunity and hard work blended exceptionally well.

Giving Every Dream a Chance – Shivu, The Rising Astronomer

“Space must be such a lonely place… with just the stars for company.”

Stars are among the few fascinating things that make our eyes twinkle with curiosity. For Shivu, whose passion is to become an astronomer, it is no different. Akshaya Patra laid the runway for his dream by providing a mentorship programme under the guidance of Ms Preeti Krishnamurthy, Senior Research Fellow in Astrophysics. During his mentorship, 14-year-old boy Shivu got an opportunity to have a closer look at the sky. His one-on-one sessions with his mentor were as enlightening as his trips to some of the best space and research facilities in and around Bengaluru. When mentorship came to a close, Shivu had his own telescope which definitely lifted his morale. Shivu’s journey, as you can see in this video, was nothing short of impressive. It is perhaps true that the universe itself lies in us.

Giving Every Dream a Chance – Manjula, The Aspiring Actress

“… when you become an actor, you can become anything you want.”

When you look into the mirror and see the reflection of a performer, it’s not the reflection you see, but a dream. That is the dream Manjula saw who is one of Akshaya Patra’s beneficiaries. A star in her own right, what the 14-year-old girl needed was a guide to polish her natural acting skills. That happened when Akshaya Patra decided to elevate Manjula’s dream by enrolling her in a month-long acting mentorship programme at the Bangalore School of Speech and Drama under the guidance of its Founder-Director, Dr. Zulfia Shaikh. Manjula was also surprised by her screen idol, Akul Balaji, who had come to watch her debut performance.

Challenges in Implementing the Mid-Day Meal Programme

To retain a hungry child in the classroom is a major problem faced by the teachers and parents in government schools. A hungry student cannot learn or understand what is being taught in the class. Hunger causes impaired mental growth, physical growth and even reduces the attention and concentration of children.

Poverty and malnutrition among students, hailing from low income families have become a major concern in India.  As a result, the Mid-Day Meal Programme was launched to universalise primary education, increase enrolment rates, reduce dropout rates as well as improve the nutritional status of students in primary classes.

Akshaya Patra implements the mid-day meal programme in partnership with the Union Government and State Governments. The organisation reaches out to 1.5 million children a day and is the largest school lunch programme in the world.

Let us see some of the challenges Akshaya Patra has to face in implementing the mid-day meal scheme.

• Providing the right quantity of food to each and every student with the right amount of nutrients, vitamins and minerals so that beneficiaries are not devoid of any essential nutrient.
• Reaching out to places where road connectivity is not smooth especially in rural areas. 
• Employing enough man power, so that meals can be prepared in vast quantities.   
• Having variety in the menu. Children would savour the meals only if different varieties of curry are served each day with rice and roti.

In spite of all the challenges, Akshaya Patra reaches out to its 1.5 million children with all efficiency and competency. Not even a single day the organisation has missed to deliver a meal as the organisation understands that this could be the only meal for many of its beneficiaries.

Hunger is really a challenge but to retain a hungry child in the classroom is more challenging. Hunger is an obstacle that hinders the child’s learning process.

Child hunger is a social issue that together we can solve. So let us donate to Akshaya Patra. It takes just Rs. 750 to feed a child for a year! Every donation of Rs. 500 or above made to Akshaya Patra is eligible for 100% tax exemption under section 35 AC or 50% tax exemption under Section 80 G of the Indian Income Tax. 

Let us donate to Akshaya Patra and help serve children to end class room hunger. 

BEML Donates a Van to Akshaya Patra’s Mid-day Meal Programme

As a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, Bengaluru-based heavy equipment manufacturer, Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) donated a meal delivery vehicle to The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF). The mid-day meal delivery van is insulated to maintain optimal temperature, which keeps food warm and fresh.

It was inaugurated at the ISKCON temple premises, Rajajinagar, in the presence of Shri Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman, TAPF, and Shri P. Dwarakanath, Chairman and Managing Director, BEML.

This meal delivery vehicle donation by BEML will equip Akshaya Patra’s Bengaluru unit to deliver nutritious meals to about 4,000 children each day.

To know more about the donation, visit: www.akshayapatra.org/events/beml-donates-meal-delivery-van

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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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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Akshaya Patra meals provide sustenance to the undernourished

Pithali is a student of standard four in the Khudradadhi Lower Primary school in Assam. She comes from a low income family where the average income per month is between Rs.2,500 and Rs.4,000. Her father works as a seasonal mason, and sometimes goes without work for as much as half a year. Her mother is employed making Mekhala Chadars, the traditional outfit of Assam. Pithali, though so young, starts her day at 6am since she helps her older sister with the household chores before attending school.

Zydus Wellness joins hands with Akshaya Patra

Zydus Wellness Ltd. has joined forces with The Akshaya Patra Foundation for their new campaign 'Donate Your Calories to Help Nourish Children', run through their substitute brand, Sugar Free.

Sugar Free acts as an alternative to sugar for health conscious people who are concerned about their calories. This campaign takes these ‘unwanted calories’ that are saved by consuming Sugar Free and converts them to ‘useful calories’ through a monetary contribution to Akshaya Patra.

This campaign was devised keeping in mind the huge chasm between people who struggle with excess weight, as against the millions of under nourished people in India. The money donated to Akshaya Patra through the campaign will be used to bridge this gap by providing more children with the tasty, nutritious mid-day meal on every school day.

The campaign was kick started in Mumbai all over the country in the presence of celebrities like Akshay Kumar (Bollywood actor), Sanjeev Kapoor (Master Chef), Tisca Chopra (actress), along with Ganesh Nayak (ED and COO, Zydus Cadila) and Elkana Ezekiel (MD, Zydus Wellness Ltd).

Describing why the campaign is crucial, ED and COO Ganesh Nayak said, “While a large proportion of India had excess calorie consumption leading to a state of weight gain, an even larger proportion did not have a nutritious meal every day. There was thus a state of calorie imbalance. In partnership with Akshaya Patra, we designed this campaign around Sugar Free to create a calorie balance by donating the calories saved by Sugar Free consumers to undernourished children, through the mid- day meal program which targets school children."

Zydus Wellness made a token contribution of 5 million calories towards The Akshaya Patra Foundation at the launch of the campaign, to be monetised later.

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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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Why CSR with Akshaya Patra?

 

Companies today have started to realise the long term importance of adopting a cohesive corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. To underline this, section 135 of The Companies Act, 2013 has made it mandatory that ‘every company with a net worth of INR 500 crores or more, and a turnover of INR 1000 crores or more, or a net profit of INR five crores or more’, must spend a minimum of two per cent of their net profits of the last three years on CSR.

Howzat for healthy!

Jaga Pradhan currently studies in the fifth standard at the Vijayanagar Project Primary School in Puri. An energetic, vibrant young boy, Jaga enjoys coming to school to study Science and Literature above all his other subjects. His older brother works as a daily wage earner, while his mother is a construction worker. Both Jaga and his younger brother attend the same school and are beneficiaries of The Akshaya Patra mid-day meal.

Thinking Out of The Book

Going to school is about more than just becoming book smart. It’s about making friends, interaction, gaining confidence, learning sportsmanship, etiquette, empathy, discovering hidden talents and so much more.

It is how children are groomed today to become respectable citizens of society tomorrow.

In India where many children come from economically backward families, school is not very high on the list of priorities. Parents much rather that children help them earn their daily wages, or stay at home to look after their siblings while both parents work.

A Bellyful of Benefit

We’re living in an age where education is power. It is the power to be informed, make decisions, earn money and take control of your life. The Akshaya Patra Foundation believes that no child should be deprived of an education because of hunger, and so started its mid-day meal programme to allow children to study on a full belly and one day, gain that power.

Vrindavan kitchen forges Ahead

When The Akshaya Patra Foundation expanded its operations to the holy city of Vrindavan in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, it couldn’t have come at a better time. The northern Indian state has historically been plagued by staggeringly low nutrition and welfare levels, making development in the region an uphill battle.

Campaign by Akshaya Patra towards supporting mid-day meal scheme in Hyderabad

Akshaya Patra is a NGO implementing the mid day meal scheme in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from these two locations it implements the programme in 18 more locations across eight other states. During the recent Joy of Giving Week, the Foundation’s Hyderabad branch organised a campaign titled 'A student for a student'. The main aim was to create awareness and raise fund for the beneficiaries of mid day meal.

Not for profit organization for children in Forbes

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation in India has been featured in Forbes through an article written by the organisations former Board Member- Nish Acharya. Presently, he is a Senior Fellow with North-eastern University and the Center for American Progress. In his article he brings out his experience while working with the organisation along with the mid day meal scheme success stories. He also duly points out the organisation’s effort to provide mid day meal to millions of children every day across 20 locations of 9 states. Nish Acharya’s article was published on the Skoll World Forum. This forum is a platform for discussion on important social issues across the world.

Internet technology for non-profit organisations

The Internet world has opened up global avenues for all types of organisations and businesses. It has proved to be of immense benefit to the charitable organisations too. The potential of social networking for non-profits has gained huge recognition and acceptance. The significance of internet technology for non-profits lies in its ability to allow the charitable organisations to create awareness about their work, share information with their supporters and also pitch for newer partnerships and collaboration.

Akshaya Patra Striving to Improve Child Nutrition

A major objective Akshaya Patra intends to achieve through the implementation of its mid day meal programme is significantly increasing child nutrition.

Eliminating malnutrition is a matter of utmost urgency in India. UNICEF statistics state that 1 in 3 of the world's malnourished children lives in India.

Akshaya Patra Decentralized Kitchen in Rajasthan Supports Employment to Rural Women

A country cannot progress if its women and children are held back; their welfare is an indicator of a nation’s development. Mid day meals promote education, providing children with a bright future, but they can also empower rural women.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation  mid day meal program is active in more than 9000 Government schools across 19 locations of 9 states, with operations in urban, semi-urban and rural areas.  The Foundation serves mid-day meals to over 1.3 million children across India.

Akshaya Patra Beneficiary Success Story from Vadodara

Akshaya Patra in Gujarat : Sheetal Chawla, a student of Pragati Vidyalaya, Bhayli has the knack of hiding the tale of an unforeseen life event which affected her academically too. Sheetal comes from a humble background. A creative child who loves to draw Mehendi on others’ hands and she is very fond of dancing too. She is a bright student in her academics too.

At a tender age Sheetal came across probably the most uncertain event in her life when her father suffered from high BP and a mild heart attack. After struggling for two months, he breathed his last in March 2011. With this irrecoverable loss, Sheetal also lost a whole academic year as she could not appear for her annual examination, the first date of which coincided with the date when her father passed away. This life changing event of Sheetal gets tactfully hidden behind her sparkling eyes.

To support her family, Bharati Behn- Sheetal’s mother began to work as domestic help in a few houses. Now, she is the only earning member in the family. But, this has not put a pause in the education of either Sheetal or her brother Piyush. Bharati Behn with her little earnings is managing to educate both her children. Sheetal’s brother is studying in the 10th Standard. He aims to do his ITI Diploma.

As Bharati Behn’s day starts as early as 6 a.m., Sheetal and her brother’s just has a glass of milk for their breakfast. Sheetal thus looks forward to having the freshly cooked meal of Akshaya Patra which is served before noon between 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sheetal is a Akshaya Patra beneficiary and she goes on to s ay, “Akshaya Patra mid day meal is a boon to families like ours, where it is difficult to have such a nutritious hot meal every day”. A thoughtful child, she extends a special thanks to all the ‘Bhais’ (brothers) and Behns (sisters) of Akshaya Patra for their everyday support.

Join Akshaya Patra and get involved in changing the lives of many children like Sheetal. Let’s together change the future in a constructive way. Feed the Children today!!!

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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.