Akshaya Patra Bags LACP Award

The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF) struck Gold at the League of American Communications Professionals’ (LACP) Vision Awards 2014-15 in the Annual Reports (NGO) category, making it five wins in a row. The Foundation’s Annual Report 2014-15, titled Giving Every Dream a Chance featured the inspiring stories of three beneficiaries whose dreams were given wings by Akshaya Patra.

This instalment of the LACP Awards had submissions from over two dozen countries, which makes the win all the more special. Akshaya Patra’s Annual Report scored 98 out of 100, bagging perfect scores in multiple attributes, including Report Cover and Information Accessibility.

LACP Managing Director, Christine Kennedy was all praises for the Annual Report. She said “It proves to be remarkable in light of tremendous competition. The level of creativity exhibited is superb, which is supported by exceptional clarity in communicating this year’s key messages.”

The LACP was formed in 2001 to provide a platform for individuals and entities in the public relations industry, to encourage best practices and recognise exceptional talent.

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.

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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VGL contributes to Akshaya Patra

The Vaibhav Group of Companies has teamed up with Akshaya Patra to promote the cause of food for education. Through their one-for-one initiative VGL will contribute towards one Akshaya Patra tasty, nutritious mid-day meal, for every item sold from VGL’s The Jewellery Channel (TJC) UK! Through this campaign TJC has already donated Rs.10 lakh to Akshaya Patra and will support the Foundation’s mid-day meals for 14,000 children for the entire year.

To kickstart this campaign the Managing Director of TJC, UK Colin Wagstaffe and other representatives toured the Akshaya Patra kitchen in Jaipur, and served food to the beneficiary students in the region.

This is yet another example for the good that can be achieved through corporates taking on an active role in addressing social issues in the country. By making this generous contribution to Akshaya Patra, VGL is contributing directly towards combating the deadly issue of classroom hunger in India.

Currently this electronic retailer of jewellery and lifestyle products is running its main manufacturing outlet in Jaipur, while running sourcing offices in China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia.

To support the cause of eliminating classroom hunger in India, make a donation to The Akshaya Patra Foundation here.@ donate to ngo

Saavn and Akshaya Patra join for #MusicForMeals

Saavn, the leading digital music service provider in India, has partnered with The Akshaya Patra Foundation to help provide nutrition to the underserved children of India. They have launched a one-of-a-kind initiative called #MusicForMeals where they aim to feed 5,000 Akshaya Patra beneficiaries one mid-day meal every day, for an entire year!

The initiative is based on the premise that for every hour of streaming on the Saavn website or apps, the music service provider will contribute to Akshaya Patra. Saavn has pledged to make monthly donations, and has just completed a donation of Rs. 3.12 lakh to Akshaya Patra during February.

Talking about the vision behind the Saavn-Akshaya Patra collaboration, Rishi Malhotra the Co-Founder and CEO of Saavn says, “Our goal as a company has always been to be as impactful as the music we stream to millions of users every day. Just as we have become India’s music streaming service, we want the Saavn team and our users to make a lasting difference in the world, especially in India, where children are the next generation of students, leaders, entrepreneurs, and the future of the country.

We’re launching #MusicForMeals so that our users’ love for music can translate into sending children to schools for wholesome meals, on a daily basis. We are inviting other companies to join #MusicForMeals as it is an opportunity for all companies to collaborate and make a lasting impact. As we add millions of users and streams this year, we’ll grow our support for #MusicForMeals alongside it. We believe music can truly change the world in every way.

Akshaya Patra CEO Shridhar Venkat also expresses his pleasure saying, “We appreciate the philanthropic values of Saavn and thank them for #MusicForMeals. This initiative by Saavn will help in serving meals to many underserved children on school days, helping them with an opportunity to attend school, focus and learn.”

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Union Minister Visits Akshaya Patra Rourkela

The Rourkela kitchen in Odisha had a special guest recently. Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Steel, Mines, Labour and Employment accompanied by other dignitaries visited the Akshaya Patra kitchen on 2^nd February 2015. They were welcomed by Pancharatna Dasa, the Vice President of Akshaya Patra - Odisha, and then taken on a tour of the kitchen.

After completing the tour where the entire Akshaya Patra operations process was explained, Mr Tomar gave a written testimonial of the work the Foundation is doing through the mid-day meal programme. He wrote, “The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an honourable project... 57,000 school children are getting benefitted out of this program which is supported by Rourkela Steel Plant. Best wishes.”

The dignitaries accompanying Mr Tomar included the Chairman of SAIL, C S Verma; Director (Technical) of SAIL, K K Mohanty; Director (Projects), T Suresh; CEO of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), G S Prasad; and General Manager (I/C), P&A, RSP, P K Pradhan.

The Rourkela kitchen was constructed due to the donation of The Steel Authority of India (SAIL) Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) who donated over Rs. 8 crore to Akshaya Patra as part of their CSR programme. The Rourkela kitchen today reaches out to Akshaya Patra beneficiaries across over 400 schools in the region.

Support food for education on World Hunger Day 2014

Food security is a problem that plagues people in every country, in every corner of the world. In fact, food security is such a crippling issue that the Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO) estimates that there are 805 million people who are hungry across the world.

With hunger and malnutrition being such crucial problems of the world today, World Food Day was conceptualised in 1945 by the United Nations, to also mark the day that the Food and Agriculture Organisation was founded. Celebrated on 16 October all over the world this day aims to bring about an understanding of the circumstances and problems connected with hunger and poverty.

For World Food Day 2014 the theme chosen is Family Farming: “Feeding the world, caring for the earth”. This theme has been adopted to raise awareness of the role that family farming plays in putting an end to global hunger and malnutrition. However, because of problems like poor raw material, bad policies and inadequate storage facilities, many farmers go hungry themselves.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation involved in the cause of providing food for education to underprivileged children in India, understands how crucial supporting family farming can be. Although there may not be a correlation between the cause of Akshaya Patra and family farming at first hand, the two are actually closely connected.

Children are forced to help their parents in the fields, tilling the soil and struggling to get by, at the cost of their education. By supporting and highlighting the importance of family farming, this occupation will get a boost, and children get an education.

Celebrate World Food Day 2014 and help end classroom hunger by making online donation to NGO.

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Donate to Akshaya Patra for Joy of Giving 2014

 The Joy of Giving Week (Daan Utsav) is marked by great efforts in generosity to bridge the gaps of social inequality. It is in pursuit of this goal that many donors partner with NGOs all over India like The Akshaya Patra Foundation to help alleviate suffering and provide opportunities to the under privileged sections of society. However with so many options to donate during Joy of Giving Week, making a choice as to which organisation and cause to support can become a little overwhelming.

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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Support Akshaya Patra at the Mastek Cause-A-Thon 2014!

 What’s better than running for exercise? Running for a cause! Show your support for The Akshaya Patra Foundation at the Mastek Cause-A-Thon 2014 scheduled to be held in Kharghar, Mumbai on 28th  September. Come cheer the participants as they run for the cause of alleviating poverty.

Mastek Foundation which organises the annual marathon has this year partnered with The Akshaya Patra Foundation to help spread awareness of the work Akshaya Patra does, and work towards providing food and education to the children in need.

All the proceeds collected through the sale of tickets and sponsorship by the Mastek Cause-A-Thon will be donated to The Akshaya Patra Foundation and used to implement the organisation’s projects. These will be eligible for the tax saving 80G certificate.

Mastek Foundation has always been actively involved in creating awareness campaigns targeted at improving welfare in community life. They have frequently partnered with non profit organisations like The Akshaya Patra Foundation to bring greater knowledge, following and publicity to the work being undertaken.

The Mastek Cause-A-Thon will be held at the following details:

Central Park – Kharghar, Mumbai

28 September, 2014

Time: 7.00 a.m. onward

In case of any inquiries, email:

Vijay Sapaliga - vijay.sapaliga@mastek.com | +91-9773768435

Jashosree Sen - jashosree.sen@mastek.com | +91-93930892592

Write in at: mastekfoundation@mastek.com

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an Indian non-profit organisation that runs the world’s largest school feeding programme. Reaching out to over 1.4 million children a day, across 10,661 government schools in 23 locations and 10 states of India, Akshaya Patra is on a mission to feed 5 million children by 2020. To contribute to this cause, click to Donate Online

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‘What can you get for Rs. 750?’ – Akshaya Patra’s latest film

 

Rs. 750 doesn’t seem like a lot does it? But it can be surprising just what this seemingly small amount of money can achieve. It can pay for groceries, a nice meal out, an afternoon at the spa… and food for one child for an entire academic year.

 The latest viral video ‘What can you get for Rs. 750?’ released by The Akshaya Patra Foundation captures people’s ideas of what they think they could do with Rs. 750. While the ideas varied, a predominant thought that the film captures is that most people don’t believe that Rs. 750 is a very significant amount of money, capable of making any difference to anyone’s life.

That’s when Akshaya Patra introduces the concept that while Rs. 750 may be a trivial amount to the average semi-affluent Indian family, the Foundation uses each donation of this amount to feed one child for an entire academic year. This small amount is sufficient to provide a child with nutrition he/she needs for the year and keep the child enrolled in school, and optimistic about his/her future.

To many of us today this amount of money doesn’t mean much, but to some child it’s their ticket out of poverty. Help a child who is #HungryForSchool by sponsoring their education every year, till college. With your contributions, Akshaya Patra can help end classroom hunger.

Watch the video, and share it with your friends to spread news of Akshaya Patra’s cause, and its mission to feed 5 million children by 2020. Click here to watch the video.

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Akshaya Patra wins the Communicator Award!

The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been awarded the 20th Annual Communicator Award of Distinction for overall design in the print category by The Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA). This is one of the most competitive and biggest award programmes held to recognize creative excellence for communications professionals, as can be seen from the over 6000 entries received.

Spread some hope and joy

The Wall of Hope and Joy is round the corner and the adrenalin is high at The Akshaya Patra Foundation. Bringing back the much enjoyed photography exhibition for the second time, the folks at the Foundation are looking forward to an even bigger turn out to this event than last time.

The mid-day meal programme – Food for the soul

We always think of the happy, shining faces of young children as they eat their fill of the mid-day meal provided by The Akshaya Patra Foundation. But very rarely do we think of the joy and satisfaction it brings to the people involved in this venture. Not just the staff and employees of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, but the other irreplaceable individuals that help this process work. From teachers, physicians and volunteers, these kind souls have seen frail children transform into healthy children before their eyes, filled with hope and renewed vigor, a sight they cannot help but be moved by.

Introducing ‘Thali For All’

The Akshaya Patra Foundation decided to step up its game with the introduction of a fun application, ‘Thali For All.’ Launched on February 13, 2014 the game is designed to sensitize players to the cause of Akshaya Patra (What cause), how the kitchens operate and the utmost importance given to food quality and safety, all in a way that’s fun and entertaining.

Saluting India’s Women this Women’s Day

Women’s empowerment has always been a cause that The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been conscious of. Though women’s empowerment is not directly associated with the cause of providing Food for Education, Akshaya Patra has always in its own way, worked toward the empowerment of the women in society.

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.