Akshaya Patra: July 2015

Wednesday, 29 July 2015

Akshaya Patra in Maharashtra as a facilitator

Recent developments bring to fore that the presence of Akshaya Patra in Maharashtra will be felt soon. Akshaya Patra has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra Government and the Tata Trust to help in setting up of centralised kitchen to provide mid-day meal in Maharashtra. Ratan Tata, the Tata Chairman Emeritus was also present at the event.

This project is aimed at providing wholesome meals at Ashram-shalas in Maharashtra. The pilot project is expected to launch in Mundhegaon in Nashik and Kambalgaon in Palghar on 1^st August and 15^th August respectively.

Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra said that the Centralised Kitchen facilitated by Akshaya Patra in Maharashtra will help in providing nutritious mid-day meal in Maharashtra’s numerous Ashram-Shalas that are run by Tribal Development Department and NGOs in Maharashtra. He also said that from 15 December the project will be launched for the entire state, focussing especially in the districts where there is more prevalence of malnutrition.

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Tuesday, 28 July 2015

Nepal Earthquake Relief Project by Akshaya Patra

The Nepal Earthquake Relief Project was primarily spearheaded to help Nepal people get freshly cooked wholesome food. The Nepal Earthquake Relief Project has been a joint initiative of Sipradian Sahayata Sanstha, Tata Trust and The Akshaya Patra Foundation. The initiative is being funded by Tata Trust and has already moved forward as the Akshaya Patra kitchen launch is underway.

In order to set the Akshaya Patra kitchen, installation materials are being transported to Nepal from the following regions Bengaluru, Pune, Valsad and Lucknow. Two trucks laden with heavy kitchen equipment like cauldrons along with various food products with long shelf life were on its way from Bengaluru. The truck from Pune carried a Thermax boiler whereas the truck from Valsad carried a small boiler and other needed materials. Finally the truck from Lucknow set off with vessels, crates and pallets, and galvanized iron boxes along with various other items. The Sipradian Sahayata Sanstha furthered the efforts to help Nepal people by assisting Akshaya Patra in acquiring required customs clearance for the trucks to enter Nepal.

The kitchen for the Nepal Earthquake Relief Project is being set up at Subakamana Party Palace, Suryabinayak Chowk , Bhaktapur. The expected date of the kitchen launch is 21^st June 2015. This kitchen will provide freshly cooked wholesome meals to 11 locations in and around Bhaktapur namely Bhelukhel, Maheswari, Jella, Garun Kund, Kamal Binayak, Thulo Bayasee, Bayasee, Bode, Thali, Gokarneswar and Bhugmati.

Know more @ www.akshayapatra.org/news

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Monday, 27 July 2015

Support Akshaya Patra one of the non governmental organisations in India

There are thousands of non governmental organisations in India working for the betterment of society in numerous ways. One of the most pressing issues being tackled by these organisations falls within the sphere of child welfare. There are millions of children across India who struggle for a single filling meal in a day, who have never set foot in a school, who have never owned a pair of new shoes in their life, and who have very little hope for their future. It is to champion these young ones, and to make their dreams a reality, that many Foundations and Trusts have been created. The Akshaya Patra Foundation works to nurture the dreams of children across India by providing them with a daily nutritious mid-day meal. Access to this daily, wholesome meal ensures that children don’t have to choose between food and education. With a belly full of food, the children have the energy and peace of mind to focus on their education and move closer to achieving their goals. Implementing this programme over such a large scale requires a great deal of support. Charity donations and fund raising ideas are crucial for the sustainability of the programme. But through the support of the Government of India, CSR activities and individuals, the Foundation has scaled up over the past 15 years.

Being one of the non governmental organisations in India that has achieved great growth, Akshaya Patra today feeds over 1.4 million children across 10, 845 Government schools across the country. In addition to this, the organisation reaches out to over 150,000 children in over 2,500 Anganwadi centres in India. By providing nutrition to these children across the age of infancy to high school, as well as pregnant and lactating mothers, the Foundation has to constantly come up with innovative and engaging fund raising ideas. The aim of the organisation is to reach out to even more children and reach 5 million children by 2020. Charity donations in both large and small amounts all play a huge role in helping the Foundation reach out to more children.

Often there is the misconception that in order to make a difference by contributing to NGO in India, one must contribute in large amounts. However, Akshaya Patra, through its Public Private Partnership model with the Government of India, has made supporting the cause of food for education affordable to a large section of society. In fact, for charity donations of just Rs.750, one child can be fed the wholesome Akshaya Patra mid-day meal every day for an entire year. Fund raising ideas like have made supporting the cause of eliminating classroom hunger in India enjoyable, and an achievable goal for dedicated social workers across the country. To feed underserved children across India, Akshaya Patra needs the wholehearted involvement of every interested person. Help the Foundation achieve its vision that ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.’ Donate now to the charity to make the underprivileged children life better.

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Tuesday, 21 July 2015

Akshaya Patra One of Non Profit Organizations to Serve Mid Day Meal in UP

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one of the globally renowned non profit organizations. This Foundation provides the Government of India’s school feeding programme to over 1.4 million children across over 10,000 schools in India. The programme is implemented by the organisation in 24 locations across 10 states in the country. One of the states that Akshaya Patra implements the programme is in Uttar Pradesh. The mid day meal in UP functions from two kitchens set up in the state. The kitchens are located at Vrindavan and Lucknow, together feeding over 150,000 children across nearly 2,000 Government schools every day. The kitchens work towards alleviating child hunger in the region. The kitchens are able to provide this wholesome food to the students through the online donations to charity Akshaya Patra.

Akshaya Patra is one of the non profit organizations that have developed a great deal of trust from its patrons over the past 15 years since its inception. The Foundation prioritises food safety and quality above all else in all its kitchens including the two serving the mid day meal in UP. The Foundation undertakes improvement strategies like Six Sigma, GMP, Kaizen and implements Food Safety Management Systems in its kitchens. As testament to this, ten of the kitchens are ISO 22000: 2005 certified while the rest are in the process of certification. Frequent quality checks are undertaken in the kitchens, and feedback is collected from the schools as well to constantly improve the quality of the programme. Hygiene standards are maintained by ensuring that all the staff members follow personal hygiene practices like frequently washing their hands and taking daily showers. While in the kitchen the staffs also wear caps, gloves, face masks, gum boots, and full uniform at all times. Through online donations to charity Akshaya Patra, the Foundation has been able to scale up and take this nutritious programme to many more children across the country.

Being one of the most innovative non profit organizations, 22 of the 24 kitchens are follow the centralised format, including the Vrindavan and Lucknow kitchens serving the mid day meal in UP. These kitchens are semi mechanised units that can cook food for tens of thousands of children every day. Fitted with cutting edge technology that allows for large scale cooking in a very short amount of time, these kitchens also minimise human contact with the food. This also ensures that food safety and hygiene is not compromised during the cooking process. The Vrindavan kitchen which was set up in the year 2004 today reaches out to nearly 140,000 children. The Lucknow kitchen was recently set up in March 2015 and feeds over 11,000 children, with the capacity to scale up. Donations to charity will support Akshaya Patra’s initiative in its work to feed more children.

Support The Akshaya Patra Foundation in its work to provide the nutritious food to school children every day. Make online donations to charity to help the foundation to help the hungry children with food and to eliminate hunger among children.

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Monday, 20 July 2015

Akshaya Patra provides the mid day meal programme in Odisha

Akshaya Patra first began providing the mid day meal programme in Odisha in June 2006. The ngo in Orissa opened its centralised kitchen at Puri which today feeds over 55,000 children across nearly 650 Government schools every day. The Foundation, which runs the world’s largest school feeding programme, currently feeds over 1.4 million children across 10,770 Government schools in India every day. The organisation undertakes this mammoth task through its 24 kitchen units spread out over 10 states in the country. With the vision that ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’ Akshaya Patra is committed to ending child hunger in India. The Foundation, being a not-for-profit organisation, relies on the donations of the Government of India, corporates and well-wishers to provide this nutritious food to the children. In order to encourage more contributions the Government of India permits tax benefits of donations to be given. For those who contribute over Rs.500 they can avail of 100 per cent tax exemption.

The mid day meal programme in Odisha is also served through the other kitchens at Nayagarh, Rourkela and Cuttack. Overall this ngo in Orissa provides daily food for over 125,000 children across 1,461 Government schools in the state. Out of the four kitchens in the state, three follow the centralised kitchen format while Nayagarh follows the decentralised kitchen format. The centralised kitchens are semi mechanised units fitted with cutting edge cooking technology that allows for huge amounts of food to be cooked in a very short amount of time. The kitchens are fitted with huge cauldrons to cook rice and dal, as well as a roti making machine that is capable of producing up to 60,000 rotis in an hour. To cater to the local palate the food cooked as part of the menu includes tasty dishes like rice, roti (Indian flatbread), sambar (vegetable stew), dal (dried pulses curry) and tasty vegetable dishes. The decentralised kitchen is set up in locations where road transport and infrastructural facilities are poor. Here Akshaya Patra employs women from local self-help groups who undertake the cooking under the guidance of Akshaya Patra personnel. The Foundation aims to provide a win-win situation for both the beneficiaries and the donors. Therefore the organisation ensures that the well-wishers enjoy the tax benefits of donations for every contribution above Rs.500.

The mid day meal programme in Odisha has transformed the lives of over 50,000 children and counting. Through this nutritious meal provided by the ngo in Orissa, children have an incentive to attend school, and can now choose to get educated. Previously children were often forced to drop out of school in order to help their families earn enough for a daily meal. Through this scheme, the children are now given an opportunity to get better health and learning at the same time. In addition to this advantage are the tax benefits of donations that contributors enjoy.

Donate to the non-profit organization for the mid day meal programme in Odisha to feed the hungry children.

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Saturday, 18 July 2015

Akshaya Patra wins Annual Report awards at Hermes Creative Awards

Akshaya Patra added another Annual Report awards by winning the Platinum Award in Hermes Creative Awards 2015. This international awards platform received around 6,000 entries from countries all over the world. Hermes Creative Awards is described as a competition ‘for creative professionals who are involved in the concept, writing and design for traditional and emerging media'. It recognises exceptional pieces of work pertaining to the field of creativity and also promotes philanthropic quality of creative professionals.

The Hermes Creative Awards is a versatile platform and the entries range from individual contributors to Fortune500 companies and media conglomerates. It is administered and judged by members of the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP). These members are ace professionals in the fields of marketing, communication, media production, public relations, advertising, web and freelance. The categories for 2015 were broadly divided into Print Media; Public Relations and Communications; Electronic Media, Social Media and Interactive Media; and Pro Bono.

AkshayaPatra Annual Report receiving the Platinum as its Annual Report awards is indeed a remarkable achievement because only about 15 % of the participants had become the recipient of the Platinum award, 22% received the Gold award and only 11% of the participants received honourable mention.

Click Akshaya Patra Annual Report to view the award winning entry. Click here to view other Annual Report awards received by the Foundation.

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