Be a partner in madhu pandit dasa’s vision for health and education

Akshaya Patra Foundation with its chairman as Madhu Pandit Dasa has been established with a vision to provide food to children The organization has been working hard for this purpose and helping it have been various partners.

Akshaya Patra has partnered with Swiggy which is a food ordering and delivery company. The two organizations came together this Independence day with a common initiative of ‘Freedom from Hunger’ which aims to free children from hunger and illiteracy. With this partnership, the two organizations expect to raise funds enough to feed 200 children for a year.

CashKaro.com , India’s No.1 Cashback and Coupon site has also partnered with Akshaya Patra Foundation. Earn cashback on more than 500 brands and donate some or all of your cashback for this noble cause via CashKaro.com

Another company with which Akshaya has partnered is GOOD FOOD FOR GOOD, a Toronto based social enterprise. This company has been donating a meal for every single sale they make

Jackfruit365 was created to make Jackfruit available to the public throughout the year. The objective was to bring down the wastage of the highly nutritious fruit and substitute for the fibre deficiency in a normal person’s average diet. JackFruit365 has partnered with Akshaya Patra and would contribute to in three ways – for every pack sold, the JackFruit365 team would donate a sponsorship fee for 5 mid-day meals; request their partners (restaurants and corporate cafeterias) for every meal they serve with JackFruit365 to donate for one midday meal; and finally, request all their well-wishers to donate generously to Akshaya Patra and help bring poor children to schools.

Kavita Vision has chosen to support Akshaya Patra by donating by 1% of each online sale from its ventures Radhavallabh.com and Krishnastores.com towards the mid-day meal programme.

MyCopie, a stationary brand for students, has partnered with Akshaya Patra to do their bit to feed hungry children across India. To accomplish this, for every notebook sold, MyCopie is donating a part of their revenue to the Foundation, so that children do not have to forego their education due to lack of food.

PriceBurp.com, Saavn, Tweet2Health and many other companies have partnered with Akshaya Patra Foundation to help strengthen the drive that has been initiated to feed children and keep them healthy and facilitate their education.

part of their revenue to the Foundation, so that children do not have to forego their education due to lack of food.

PriceBurp.com, Saavn, Tweet2Health and many other companies have partnered with Akshaya Patra Foundation to help strengthen the drive that has been initiated to feed children and keep them healthy and facilitate their education.

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Swiggy supporting Akshay Patra Foundation

India is one of those countries which unfortunately stand high on the ranking index when it comes to social devils like malnutrition among children; World Bank concluded this on the basis of a survey. We have highest number of underweighted children and that’s too below the age of three, in spite of 50% growth in GDP since last century. The number is so huge in India that our contribution of malnourished children is one third in total of this population all over the world which is half the root cause of the child mortality rate.
Government is trying its best but it’s still lagging behind in implementing the effective-efficient schemes. Akshaya Patra Foundation is such a non-profit organization which is following the path of one of the schemes of government of India, i.e. midday meal and working towards providing the essential nutrients to more than 11 lakh school children in almost a dozen states across the nation on daily basis. Akshaya Patra is working with the motive “no child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger”, of its existence on this planet. The organization mainly focuses on those schools where children who belong to underprivileged sector of society enroll themselves.
Recently on the Independence Day, a food ordering and delivering company based out of Bangalore named Swiggy, decided to contribute fifteen rupees from its every order to Akshaya Patra Foundation, which comes out to be covering cost of food for 200 school children. They also encouraged their customers this Independence Day to come forward and order food, this time not only for themselves but indirectly help in providing a day’s meal to a child who is fighting against hunger right now.

VK Hill and Hubli kitchens bag CII National Food Safety Awards 2014!

 

Akshaya Patra’s Hubli and Vasanthapura(VK Hill) kitchens have been awarded the coveted CII National Award for Food Safety – 2014! The awards were presented at the 9^th Food Safety and Quality Summit held in New Delhi on December 2^nd, 2014.

The VK Hill kitchen received the highest position of Outstanding Performance in Food Safety, and the Hubli kitchen received the award for the 2^nd highest position of Certificate of Commendation for Significant Achievement in Food Safety.

The award was conferred to Akshaya Patra by K. Chandramouli, Chairman, Food Safety & Standards Authority of India. Also present on the occasion were Mayank Jalan, Co-Chairman, Food Processing Committee and Chairman and Managing Director, Keventer Agro Limited and Kevin D. Gallagher, FAO India representative. Receiving the award on behalf of Akshaya Patra were Muralidhar Pundla, Yagneshwara Dasa, Suresh Kumar, Arun Kumar and Prashanth MB.

The CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) National Award for Food Safety was introduced in 2010, and now includes social and improvement undertakings, and goes beyond good manufacturing practices and management of food safety systems. Large, medium, small and micro sized food manufacturing units, hotels, restaurants and retail outfits dealing with food products are eligible to compete for this award.

The award highlights role models and identifies the ‘Best in Class’ in the manufacturing and food service organisations of India. It provides such organisations a platform for national recognition, and also allows participants to assimilate benchmark practices for future development.

Speaking on the occasion, Muralidhar Pundla, Director – Quality at Akshaya Patra said, “Quality is of paramount importance at Akshaya Patra. It’s an honour to receive this prestigious award from CII and that too, two awards in a single year. We at Akshaya Patra at the same time would like to keep our focus on Continual Improvement Programs to further strengthen our systems and processes to make sure that we can serve more children meals that they can relish every day.”

The kitchens were assessed based on approximately 500 indicators, divided over four categories. The criteria of evaluation ranged over topics like organisation efforts towards change management, compliance to statutory and regulatory requirements, commitment to the effective maintenance of Food Safety Management Systems, and use of Good Manufacturing Practices, amongst others.

In 2013, the Akshaya Patra Bellary kitchen received the CII National Award for Food Safety ‘for its holistic approach in establishing, running and managing efficiently the Food Safety and Quality Systems.’

 

 

 

‘The Possibilities’ – A film by Akshaya Patra

‘One of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life is, I think, to have a happy childhood’. – Agatha Christie

Agreed.Childhood is those years of life which are cherished by most of us, but the story is not same in many cases. Akshaya Patra captures an overview on its latest film – ‘The Possibilities.’ This compelling film brings to fore the plight children go through when they are not presented with a childhood they deserve.The film will be released on the eve of Children’s Day – 13^th November, 2014.

‘The Possibilities’ portrays various struggles the child protagonist undergoes in order to survive. And how just one wholesome mid-day meal served every day at school can change his life.

1. R. Rahman and Viacom/MTV have kindly offered the famous soundtrack ‘Naan Yen Piranthen’ as background music for the film. The child’s role is performed by Chetan, a Malayalam child artist. The film is expected to reach millions bringing their attention to possibilities in life of a child who is affected by hunger and how mid-day meals can change it.

“The Possibilities’ relays a strong message about the importance of the mid-day programme. We believe the film will touch many hearts and bring nutritious food to more underserved children of our nation. We are immensely delighted and honoured as the legendary musician; Mr. A. R. Rahman has kindly agreed to donate his popular track ‘Naan Yen…’ as a background track enhancing the impact of the film. We are also grateful to Viacom/ MTV for helping us use the track for the benefit of children. The music complements the essence of the film and sends out a powerful message,” said Chanchalapathi Dasa, Vice Chairman of The Akshaya Patra Foundation

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an NGO headquartered in Bangalore, implements mid-day meal program in partnership with Government of India and various State Governments. The organisation is commended for its hygienically prepared nutritious food. This world largest (NGO run) mid-day meals program reach 1.4 million children from over 10,000 schools across 10 states in India.

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Not everything is in our hands to change in a child’s life.

 

Launching Feed by ‘Like’ Campaign

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is launching an online campaign?Feed by ‘Like’ on 11th November, 2014. When one likes Akshaya Patra’s Facebook page, a donor contributes a meal to a child. With all the fans participating, it is quite a lot of meals for children hungry in school. That is the idea of the impact this campaign should have. This campaign aims to increase its Facebook reach further by increasing fan base.

Besides increasing the fan base of Facebook, the campaign?Feed by ‘Like‘ should also increase lead generation and brand awareness through Facebook and all the other online channels implemented. Getting support through sponsors and increase interaction and engagement are also the prospective outcomes.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that implements mid-day meal programme in over 10,000 Government and Government aided school across India. The kitchens of Akshaya Patra are spread over 23 locations across 10 States in India, reaching 1.4 million children with a hearty meal every school day. The organisation works in public-private partnership with the Government of India and several State Governments in the country. The organisation aims to reach 5 million children by 2020 and is continuously working to accomplish it.
Spread the word to feed the children by liking our page: http://goo.gl/eoZtcS

Akshaya Patra, a charitable trust in India

When one surfs the internet he finds a number of charitable trusts in India alone. Of the many trusts some are involved in providing mid-day meal in India. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a charitable trust in India implementing the mid-day meal programme. This charitable trust in India has been functional since June 2000. In its journey of 14 years, it has served mid-day meal to 1.4 million children across more than 10, 600 Government schools in India. Akshaya Patra is present in 23 locations across states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

This charitable trust in India functions in Public-Private Partnership model. It receives grants and subsidies from the Central Government and various State Governments. The Foundation is also eligible to raise funds in the form of donations to sustain and expand the programme in other locations of India. Apart from the primary cause of providingmid-day meal in India, this charitable trust in India is also engaged in other initiatives as mentioned below:

Other feeding initiatives of Akshaya Patra:

a) Anganwadi feeding
b) Feeding expecting and lactating mothers
c) Feeding in special schools
d) Subsidised lunch for the economically backward
e) Feeding runaway children
f) Feeding in old-age homes
g) Feeding the homeless
h) Disaster relief

Social initiatives of Akshaya Patra:
a) After-class tuitions
b) Life skills programme
c) Community health camps
d) Scholarship programmes
e) Health check-up camps

In order to evaluate the progress of the mid-day meal programme in impacting the lives of the underserved children,Akshaya Patra has conducted many impact studies. The summary of the studies can be availed at Impact Study. These studies evaluated the extent to which this charitable trust in India has been successful in achieving the six main objectives of the Central Mid-Day Meal Scheme as mentioned below:

o Eliminating classroom hunger
o Increasing school enrolment
o Increasing school attendance
o Improving socialisation among communities
o Addressing malnutrition, and
o Women empowerment

Everyone has their own reason to donate to charity in India or elsewhere. The reasons mainly depend upon the individual’s interest and potential of a particular cause. Over time, NGOs have evolved many innovative ideas of fundraising. Fundraise with us and Fundraising ideas are two sections of Akshaya Patra that will provide a list of interesting activities that can be done to raise donations while creating awareness about the cause. In present times, one can choose either offline or online medium to donate to charity in India. Apart from choosing to donate to charity in India, one can also choose to contribute to the mid-day meal programme in India through their time and skill, i.e. through volunteering. Get involved will provide various volunteering options to choose from for the benefit of the children. Read millions of heart warming tales of the young beneficiaries at Stories of hope. Their stories may be different but what’s common is the determination to achieve their dreams.

Support a dream today!

Akshaya Patra – How To Make 1.5 Million Meals In Less Than 5 Hours

The mid-day meal program was launched by the Government of India in the mid-1960s, and is the largest school-lunch program in the world, feeding 120 million students across the country. The Akshaya Patra Foundation started its own initiative in 2000 to provide mid day meals to 1500 school-going children across 5 schools in Bangalore. In 2006, the two collaborated to exponentially increase their social impact, and to take a big step in helping India meet its Millennium Development Goals of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and achieving universal primary education.

At present, Akshaya Patra Foundation provides freshly cooked and nutritious lunch to more than 1.5 million school-going children in 9,692 government schools across 9 states and 1 Union Territory. The Better India Team recently visited the enormous centralized kitchen at Vasanthapura in Bangalore, and came away thoroughly impressed by the scale of operations, the complexity and the attention to detail.

Many times, the mid-day meal is the only food these children get to eat in the entire day, and it forms one of the biggest incentives for them to come to school. An example of a successful public-private partnership with a large-scale social impact, the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal program has been able to achieve outstanding cost and delivery efficiency by employing innovative technology, superlative management skills and smart engineering. Come take a tour of their Centralized Kitchen with us, so that you can see for yourself how 100,000 meals are prepared.