Sri Rajnath Singh visits Akshaya Patra Lucknow Kitchen

Sri Rajnath Singh, Honourable Minister of Home Affairs, Government of India visited The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s kitchen facility in Lucknow on Sunday, December 27, 2015. Sri Ashutosh Tandon, (MLA, Lucknow East), Mr Sharda Pratap Shukla, (MLA, Sarojini Nagar) in Lucknow shared the dais on the occasion.

Akshaya Patra implements the mid-day meal programme in partnership with the Government of Uttar Pradesh and the Government of India to benefit children studying in the Government schools.

Sri Rajnath Singh also took a tour of the kitchen where he witnessed operations of the centralised kitchen facility. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Rajnath Singh commended Akshaya Patra’s noble service to society in eradicating hunger by providing nutritious mid-day meal to lakhs of school children across the country and appreciated the efficiency in reaching out to more school children.

For more details visit: http://www.akshayapatra.org/news/Honourable-Minister-of-Home-Affairs-Sri-Rajnath-Singh-visited-Lucknow-Kitchen

Idea Cellular Programme Conducted in Jaipur School

The UPS Sindhi Government School of Sanganer in Jaipur hosted an Idea Cellular Programme recently.

A team from Idea along with BEEO of Sanganer block participated in the programme. Mukul Khanna, Idea State Head was the chief guest of the occasion. Raghupati Dasa coordinated the event.

Roti making machine at Akshaya Patra Kitchen in Jaipur

The programme was kicked off with a visit to the Akshaya Patra kitchen.  During the visit, the Idea team got a live experience of the different processes involved in the making of the mid-day meal.

In the second half of the programme, the Idea team served mid-day meals to children in the UPS Sindhi School. In return, the students entertained their guests through various dance programmes. The school children also got an opportunity to exhibit their writing skills through an essay competition titled ‘sharing to society.’ The programme held by the Akshaya Patra Jaipur concluded with prize and memento distribution.

You can read more about the program at http://www.akshayapatra.org/news/idea-cellular-programme-held-in-jaipur

Meet Jagdesh-the Selfless & Dedicated Mid-day Meal Volunteer

At first glance, Jagdesh, a beneficiary of the Akshaya Patra meals may look like any other 15-year-old student of the Padua Government High School in Mangaluru.

But, in reality, he has a more important role in the school than his peers- he serves fresh and nutritious mid-day meals to everyone. Jagdesh is so generous that he will not think about himself till every student in the school is full.

From the interesting mid-day meal menu in Mangaluru, Jagdesh likes Pulao the most and couldn’t just stop while talking about it.   “It’s very tasty and the vegetables make me feel very healthy," he said.

Jagdesh has won the hearts of all in the school including Francis D'cunha, Headmaster of the Padua High School. “He is well-mannered and a very respectful child. I see a good future for him and that’s primarily because of good attitude and behaviour," D'cunha, said.

D'cunha found the Mid-day meal in Mangalore ‘a boon’ for students coming from rural areas: “The mid-day meal served by Akshaya Patra is good for nourishment and the students have become very strong and active," he added later.

Jagdesh is one of the many beneficiaries of The Akshaya Patra Foundation who has motivated and set an example to his friends. Like him, the organisation has many more NGO children stories to share with you. Just wait and follow…

Let’s Say ‘No’ to Child Labour

There is nothing worse than forcing a child to work and earn a living at a young age. Child labour, no doubt, closes doors of opportunities, fun and freedom to kids.  At a time meant to attend school, play or spend time with friends, thousands of children in India today find themselves trapped in hazardous working environments like mining, quarrying, agriculture or domestic service.

It is shocking that approximately 168 million children, aged between five and 17, are employed in these kinds of occupations in different parts of the world.  Of these, nearly 15.5 million children, the majority being girls, work in domestic service.

There has been a huge global effort to end child labour, however according to UNICEF more than 100 million children will still continue to be engaged in child labour till 2020.

In India, several acts prohibiting employing children in mines, factories or any other hazardous fields have been introduced since independence.   The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act in 2009, made education free for underserved children.

Apart from these, efforts of several non-profit organisations like The Akshaya Patra Foundation have also helped bring change to children’s lives.

Akshaya Patra, a NGO dedicated to underserved children since 2000, supplies freshly cooked mid-day meals to over 1.4 million children across 10 states in India.  Interestingly, the initiative taken by The Akshaya Patra Foundation has helped bring a notable decline in child labour. The Mid-Day Meal Programme has also helped boost school enrolment, classroom attendance and concentration in children.

Not surprisingly, only around 43.53 lakh children aged between five and 14 are employed today compared to the 1.26 crore working children in 2001.

However, thousands of children in India still miss out school and go to work at an early age. These children will grow up as uneducated and economically backward adults and will affect the nation’s progress and development.

To end classroom hunger and child labour in India, Akshaya Patra is planning to extend its feeding reach to 5 million by 2020.

A world without child labour is not very far away.  But, each one of us has to come forward to turn it into a reality.

Education For girls— we should stand!

All these years, we have been preaching about empowering our women and saving the girl child from the clutches of gender inequality. But in reality, have we succeeded in reaching our goal?

It’s a reality- we need lots of improvement in several areas including education for girls and nutrition. 

It is disturbing to know that still many families prefer boys over girls. Birth of a boy is considered as a blessing, while a girl child is often ignored. Many parents still hesitate to send their girl children to school and marry them off at an early age.

As per the Census in the year 2011, India has only 940 females for every 1000 males.  Female literacy rates have improved over the past 25 years. However, we still have long way to go to match the male literacy rate. Only 65.46% of our females, according to the Census in 2011, were literate compared to 80% of males.

Similarly, undernutrition affects females more than males in India. According to a UNICEF report, 36% of Indian women part of the NFHS-3 (National Health Survey) was chronically undernourished and 55 % were anaemic.  About 68 % of girl children from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh in the NFHS-3 were malnourished.

We already have several schemes to help improve lives of girl children in India, including the two programmes the Government launched in January this year: ‘Beti bachao, beti padhao’ and ‘Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY).’   Other schemes introduced for the welfare of our female population include ‘Nutrition programme for adolescent girls,’ and ‘The Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG) – Sabla.’

Like the Government, efforts by some NGOs like The Akshaya Patra Foundation have also given rays of hope in women and girl children across India.

Akshaya Patra’s nutritious mid-day meals have helped numerous girl children back to school.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation has also given employment opportunities to rural women. The organisation’s decentralised kitchens are mainly run by Women Self-Help Groups (SHGs), mainly by mothers of children who are studying in the organisation’s beneficiary schools.  The employment at Akshaya Patra, no doubt, has given some kind of financial independence to these mothers.

It does seem days are getting better for the girl child, but our commitment to bridge the gap needs to be stronger and actions to bring changes much faster and then we can really see a nation where girls stand shoulder to shoulder with the boys very soon.

Writing Contest - Get Featured on Akshaya Patra Blog

On #HumanRightsDay, take part in our writing contest and get featured on our blog. Pen down your thoughts on the statement - "Effect of Human Rights Violation on children" in 200-500 words and send in your entries to sulagna.b@akshayapatra.org by 21st December. The best entry will be featured on the Akshaya Patra blog.

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Chennai Flood Relief Initiative

We at The Akshaya Patra Foundation are working to alleviate the suffering that has rocked the city of Chennai in the wake of the floods of the last weeks. To this end, the Foundation has been serving fresh meals every day, with the intention to ramp up the feeding reach to 10,000 meals a day. In order to achieve this, a team of 10-30 people will be engaged in Chennai to assist in cooking, with raw material, utensils, packing material, housekeeping and fuel supplies and more being transported to the city. Once an analysis of the situation has been completed, Akshaya Patra will serve even beyond 10,000 meals a day based on the need of the hour. Donate for Chennai floods and help us to provide food for the needy. Every donation of ₹ 500 or above made to our organisation is eligible for 100 % tax exemption under section 80G.

If you want to support us please visit: Donate for Chennai Floods

Read more about our flood relief initiative @ http://blog.akshayapatra.org/chennai-flood-relief/

Role of The Akshaya Patra Foundation in Indian Education

When the British left India in 1947, India had a long way to go to overcome poverty and illiteracy.  Though it was not easy; India has made great strides in this regard since independence. However, the initiative to make changes in the society started long back before we got freedom from foreign rule and was mainly marked with the emergence of non-government organisations (NGOs) in the 19th century.   Since then, NGOs have served as backbones of our development.  Today,   India is home to more than 31 lakh NGOs and The Akshaya Patra Foundation, is one of them. The role of NGO varies from ending classroom hunger to providing education for underserved children in India. The organisation receives donation for children from different parts of the world to feed millions of students in India.

Though overall development has been the main focus, NGOs also play various roles in India, including health, child education, hunger, child labour and rural development.  However, only a few, like The Akshaya Patra Foundation has succeeded in making large strides.  The NGO started its humble efforts to fight classroom hunger in June 2000. However it was only in November 2001, the Supreme Court of India ordered all State Governments and Union Territories to start a mid-day meal scheme for school children. The organisation was soon recognised as an implementing arm of the Government. Impressed with the quality of the school lunch programme run by the NGO, many State Governments have partnered with the organization in India.

The Role of NGO  in the expansion of the Mid-Day Meal programme is really noteworthy. The NGO, which has actively volunteered and stood for the cause, at present, feeds over 1.4 million children in 10,845 Government schools and Government-aided schools  in 24 locations across  10 states in India. It is also considered to be the world’s largest NGO-run mid-day meal programme.

Apart from ending classroom hunger, the role of NGO has extended to improve school attendance, school enrolment rates, nutritional status of children and women empowerment. Over the past 15 years, people from different parts of the world have supported the initiative. No wonder, The Akshaya Patra Foundation has 24 kitchens across the country.

Here is the video of a child talking about mid day meal gives hope for his dream.

The Mid-Day Meal programme of Akshaya Patra has been running mainly through receiving donation for children.  Supporting the programme is not a costly affair and donation for children starts from ₹750 onwards. Additionally, the organisation also gives an opportunity to donate in memory of or in honour of someone you love or respect. Of them all, the most important definitely, is the tax exemption donations. Donation of ₹ 500 or above is eligible for 100% tax exemption in India.

There is no doubt in the fact that, NGOs such as Akshaya Patra has helped build a better India.  However, we want to expand our programme to 5 million children by 2020.

The situation will be far better, if each one of us come forward and participate in the programme to support the organization to feed the children for education.

All Latest Happenings of Akshaya patra at NGO News

The Akshaya Patra Foundation has always believed in being transparent and sharing information with all stakeholders. It regularly publishes latest NGO news in its official website’s NGO news section. Right from new developments within the Foundation, achievements of the Foundation till dignitary visits, all the information can be easily availed in the Akshaya Patra NGO news section.

As a NGO it becomes necessary to keep all stakeholders updated about the happenings in the Foundation. The exclusive news section allows viewers and supporters to easily access all latest developments and achievements that are happening in Akshaya Patra. It also informs supporters of campaign launches, new partnerships and new operational expansions. So just click at latest NGO news and know all the recent happenings at The Akshaya Patra Foundation. 

Win a Prize by Clicking a Smile – Akshaya Patra Contest

A smile is the reflection of happiness and satisfaction, no wonder, children smile a lot! The best way to immortalize the joy and happiness of their childhood is photography. Click a Smile, an online photography contest conducted by The Akshaya Patra Foundation, gives you a chance to eternalize these innocent smiles through the art of photography.

Anyone from across the world who loves to click pictures-either professionally or as a hobby- can participate in the Akshaya Patra photo contest. The 2015 photography competition puts forward certain rules and regulations for the photographers. Contestants can upload only up to three photographs for the online photography contest.  The images should be of a smiling child or a group of happy children. The photographs can be shot in any background including home, school or playground. The photographs should be in a digital (JPEG) form, should be less than 4 MB and should have a minimum resolution of 800 pixels.

Most importantly, the photographs should be original and not manipulated. However, the participants have the freedom to make some minor edits in their images, mainly in curves, colour, saturation, contrast, levels, cropping, clean ups and sharpening.  Images with too much of manipulation will not be accepted for the Akshaya Patra photo contest.  Similarly, composite images, sandwich shots and photographs with more than one separate image or multiple exposures will be disqualified from the online photography contest.

All the entries of the online photography contest will be thoroughly analysed and evaluated by a group of highly qualified professionals from the industry.  The best three entries will be decided on the basis of content, composition, sensitivity, creativity and style and will be honoured with a trophy, certificate and gift voucher from the organisation.

The 2015 photography competition has three experts as judges. Kanick Samuel, who is currently serving J Walter Thompson, Bangalore as Senior Creative Director, has 12 years of experience in advertising industry.  Being a product of Chitrakala Parishath, College of Fine Arts, Bangalore, Kanick has used his creativity to serve some leading advertising agencies like Ogilvy & Mather, Contract, Saatchi & Saatchi and Mudra Communications.

The second judge, Suresh V.B., a professional photographer, is working as a Creative Consultant in Circle Communications. Suresh is an expert in candid street, portrait and travel photography.

Our final judge Vicky Roy is a documentary photographer. Mastering the art of photography from the International Centre of Photography (ICP), Vicky was chosen to photo document reconstruction of World Trade Center, New York in 2008.

Click a Smile has succeeded in pulling crowds in the past. Last year, the Akshaya Patra photo contest received an amazing response with a whopping 1,500 entries from 50 countries.  This year, we expect more!

Deadline for submitting images for the 2015 photography competition is 22nd December, 2015.

Pick up your camera, register yourself and satisfy the shutterbug in you. We can help turn your passion into an achievement! Don’t miss this chance to take part, and spread the joy of smiles too.

Food Is Everything! A Free Meal Can Work Wonders

There is no doubt that food is one of the basic necessities in life. A balanced diet helps maintain cells and tissues; provides energy needed for physical activity and protects the body against diseases.  On the other hand, poor nutrition can weaken the immune system and lead to learning problems, bone diseases and premature death.

Nearly 795 million people in the world are undernourished, according to The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015 released by the United Nations (UN).  Another data released jointly by the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and the World Bank shows that in 2014, nearly 159 million children around the world were stunted, while another 50 million children were wasted.

The situation is not better in India where about 300 million people live in extreme poverty.  Hunger has become such a major issue in India that several parents do still compromise on their children’s education and send them for manual labour.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a top NGO in India, has been working hard since 2000, so that malnutrition and hunger will permanently disappear from Indian schools.

As its name Akshaya Patra suggests-‘an inexhaustible food bowl’- the NGO has been providing ‘unlimited food for education’ so that every child will get an opportunity to attend school regularly.

Starting its service with just 1,500 children in Bengaluru, over the past 15 years , Akshaya Patra has gone up to bring rays of hope among over 1.4 million underserved school children studying in different parts of India.

Akshaya Patra has set up 24 kitchens in 10 states to prepare freshly cooked mid-day meals to school children. Notably, this meal includes almost all the nutrients needed for a healthy growth.  Interestingly, the menu is also suitable for the local palate.  The organisation follows standard processes for preparing meals and also uses latest technology and well-trained staff to assure safety and maintain quality of food.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is currently working on to expand its service to 5 million school children by 2020. Reaching this goal is not very far from reality, especially when we take into consideration the strong support and encouragement the organisation has received from people across the whole world in the past.

Show your support and help us reach our goal by feeding a child.

Sponsor for an NGO for Children and Build a Better Society

Childhood is a time meant mainly for learning and playing. However, in India, many parents often struggle to take care of their little ones and provide the basic necessities needed during the early stages of their growth, including a good education and a healthy diet.

Education is one of the prime factors required for growth and development of the country. India has come a long way since acquiring independence and the overall outlook of the nation has undergone drastic changes over the past few years. However, we are yet to achieve 100% literacy rate and still stand at 74.04%. This has been one of the main factors preventing India from becoming a developed nation.  But the situation is far better than what it was used to be in 1947, when only 12% of the population was literate. A major part of this success can be attributed to different Government and non-Government organisations, particularly NGO for children like Akshaya Patra. This not-for-profit organisation established in 2000 with a vision of eradicating classroom hunger, has helped reduce school dropout rates in rural areas. The organisation, which started with just 1,500 Government school children, now, feeds over 1.4 million students across the country.  Online donations have been one of the main sources of income which allowed the organisation to serve those in need.

The Mid-Day Meal Programme run by Akshaya Patra has thus brought hopes to millions of children who are otherwise forced to sacrifice their education and take up huge responsibilities at a young age. The NGO for children, all these years, has been trying hard to ensure that no child remains hungry during school hours. The Foundation serves mid-day meals to students studying in different government and Government-aided schools in 10 states, mainly Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Assam.

Efforts taken up by the organisation have always received wide support and encouragement from different parts of the world.  Supporting the cause is not at all a difficult affair, particularly when the organisation accepts online donations.

Interestingly, these donations through online can bring some benefits to the donors also. Donating online through Akshaya Patra can help save the tax.  If you are an Indian, contributing just ₹ 500 can get you 100% tax exemption.  The Non-Governmental Organization for children also offers a wide range of options and flexibility to the donors. They can choose between sponsoring either one child a year by paying ₹ 750 or three children a year by paying ₹ 2250 or more children by paying more.

The children NGO like Akshaya Patra has always served as a bridge between underserved school children and generous people who want to make positive changes in the society.  Online donations have helped the organization to extend its reach to more and more hungry children every day. Donate today and help achieve 100 % literacy in India. Together we can end classroom hunger in India and better the country.

Akshaya Patra Celebrating 15-year Anniversary of Serving Mid-day Meal

It’s time to celebrate 15-year anniversary of The Akshaya Patra Foundation. It is time to celebrate sincere and dedicated service towards millions of underserved children. It is time to celebrate the 15-year impact of ‘unlimited food for education’. The Foundation began its journey of serving mid-day meal way back in June 2000. The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s birth springs from a story of compassion, which sowed the seeds for a higher purpose. It is the moving story of one encounter that left a lasting impact on His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada – One day, while looking out of a window at Mayapur, a village near Kolkata, Srila Prabhupada saw a group of children fighting with street dogs over scraps of food. This heart-breaking incident led to the resolve that: No one within a ten mile radius of our centre should go hungry. Taking this inspiration forward the Foundation has been striving towards the vision of ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’.

The 15-year anniversary of the Foundation is a time to cherish the accomplishments and focus on the learning of past so many years. It is also a time when the NGO wants to acknowledge and cherish the support it has received from Government of India, various State Governments and corporate and individual philanthropists. During the service of more than a decade, Akshaya Patra has witnessed the potential of the school lunch programme in breaking the vicious cycle of poverty-hunger-illiteracy. It has also witnessed that this programme has been constructive in supporting underserved children who have the determination to achieve big in life, just that they need little support and care from the well-provided for ones.

Here is a summary of study conducted by The Akshaya Patra Foundation across its serving states in association with Sigma Research and Consulting Pvt. Ltd. in 2014 to understand and establish the need, impact and continuance of implementing the Mid-Day Meal Programme. The outcome of this study showed that classroom hunger was addressed significantly. It also showed that the free school lunch positively impacted attendance and enrolment across government schools. The recommended nutritional requirements of the programme were being fulfilled and the food was healthy and hygienic too. It was provided evidence that this programme addressed socialisation aspect among children where both parents and children confirmed consuming the served meal together, irrespective of caste, religion and economic status. As this trend was observed across all Akshaya Patra serving locations, it also signified that serving universal meal is indeed important.

As the Foundation gears up to celebrate 15-year anniversary, it also fathoms that continuous improvisation is a must to reach its mission of feeding five million children by 2020. Akshaya Patra provides a platform for all to know and get involved in this mission and thereby supporting to fulfil the ambitions of its beneficiaries. This anniversary lets pledge to provide mid-day meal and nourish the body and minds of young citizens. You can support the organization by getting involved with us. Know how you can support by visiting get-involve.

Akshaya Patra NGO Blog

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one of the prominent NGOs in the mid-day meal sector of India operating since 2000. The NGO feeds more than 1.4 million children across the country covering 24 locations of 10 states. With the view to share information with supporters regarding the mid-day meal programme, its beneficiaries, its impact, global involvement, awareness campaigns and the like, Akshaya Patra initiated its official NGO blog. Unlike official website, non-profit organisation blog allows readers to comment and share their view regarding a particular topic. Though official website of any non-profit organisation is one of the most important communication requirements, the NGO blog however is more interactive than the official website which is more formal and unilateral.

The Akshaya Patra NGO blog provides information beyond the Foundation’s involvement in implementation of the mid-day meal programme. It shares information about the impact that the programme has had. It shares the latest development surrounding the programme. It also becomes a platform for the Foundation to share the dreams of its beneficiaries. The non-profit organisation blog also looks at global development with regards to community involvement and United Nations stride towards achieving Millennium Development Goals of achieving 100% literacy and elimination of hunger and poverty. Enjoy a good informative read on various topics at Akshaya Patra NGO blog.

Contribute to Charitable Trust in India for Tax Deductible Donations

Tax deductible donations are a practical and constructive way to benefit a cause. Through donations a not-for-profit organisation can increase its reach to benefit more and more beneficiaries and tax deductions comes of aid to the donor during filing of income tax returns. There are many not-for-profit organisations that give the privilege of tax deductible donations. The Akshaya Patra Foundation, charitable trust in India began its service way back in 2000 and started to provide mid-day meal as an NGO in Surat and in other 23 locations. The Foundation has been granted the permission to make available tax benefits to its donors who donate Rs. 500 or more under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act of India.

Beginning with just one serving location as a charitable trust in India, Akshaya Patra witnessed the need and impact of the mid-day meal programme. Thus gradually and strategically it executed its expansion plans and during the 15 years of service it now is operational as a Non-governmental organization in Surat and 23 other locations. As a NGO in Surat, Akshaya Patra began its service in June 2012 and currently feeds a total of 165,057 children across 371 government schools in the region. Surat is one of the three locations where the Foundation is providing mid-day meal in Gujarat. Alike the other two locations in the state, Surat too operates a centralised kitchen unit to meet the mid-day meal requirement. In total, this not-for-profit serves 400,158 children in Gujarat by covering 1,653 government schools.

Whether a donor contributes donation to a specific location or in general to the Foundation, the donor becomes eligible for tax exemption for a contribution of Rs. 500 and above. The Head Office of this charitable trust in India ensures that every donor receives a copy of donation receipt and wherever applicable it sends across tax exemption certificates too. This process also confirms the donor of his or her tax deductible donations. A sum of Rs. 750 can feed one child for one whole year; this amount also becomes eligible for tax exemption. This way the beneficiaries of mid-day meal get their share of nutritious meal every day and the donor too benefits from the clause of tax exemption during filing of income tax returns.

Since the inception of the mid-day meal programme, the implementers – government and non-governmental organisations have witnessed the positive impact on children. The mid-day meal programme has acted like a supporting pillar for education schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan and Right to Education. The mid-day meal programme acts like an incentive – for the parents to send their children to school with the hope that they will receive at least one wholesome meal per day; and for the children to regularly attend school. This programme has also been instrumental in increasing enrolment and attendance along with positively impacting the health of children. As tax deductible donations benefit both receiver and donor, the charitable trust in Bangalore encourages more participation from the entire society. Join Akshaya Patra in eliminating classroom hunger through mid-day meal programme.

View NGO photos of Akshaya Patra

As is said that pictures speak more than words so does the collection of NGO photos of The Akshaya Patra Foundation. Photographs and videos are always a treat to eyes and it is one of the fastest ways of communicating and spreading awareness about a cause The NGO gallery comprises of still images and videos of the different events and developments in the Foundation.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation on a regular basis keeps sharing and updating its well-wishers with fresh photos and videos of recent events, media coverage, internal developments and collection of beneficiary photos from across all its 24 serving locations. These NGO photos provide the viewers and supporters a quick glance of all the recent happenings in the organisation. View the photo galleries that showcase different milestones of the Foundation. The video gallery will take you through a tour of the various aspects of The Akshaya Patra Foundation starting with kitchen processes to online videos for awareness campaigns.

Along with providing photos, the NGO gallery also provides a snippet about each collection for better understanding and information sharing. So as you view the NGO photos you also get an explanation about an event or development thereby making it an informed experience of photo viewing.

Check out the latest photos of Akshaya Patra.

Partner with Akshaya Patra to Ensure Freedom from Hunger

Having witnessed the debilitating effect of hunger Governments and NGOs across the globe are striving to ensure freedom from hunger for its citizens. In India too, the government has initiated various schemes to counter the hunger situation in the country. NGOs like The Akshaya Patra Foundation too have got involved in the effort to tackle the hunger situation by implementing the mid-day meal programme. Through this programme Akshaya Patra feeds hungry children in India by proving nutritious meals every day. In this effort to provide freedom from hunger especially classroom hunger, the Foundation has received remarkable support from various organisations, corporates and individuals.

This support and partnerships has enabled the Foundation to grow and expand its operations in many new locations. The Foundation appreciates these philanthropic partnerships and invites participation from all. There are many ways an interested individual, group or company can get involved in the path to providing freedom from hunger. A look at Get Involved will introduce to the many ways one can support the Foundation in feeding hungry children in India. Here is a mention of some of the latest partnership campaigns that Akshaya Patra had Britannia Good Day, Saavn, CashKaro.com, Swiggy and the like. Click here to read about more such campaigns and the motto behind each campaign.

For further information or assistance on partnering with Akshaya Patra to ensure freedom from hunger among children, you can drop a mail at infodesk@akshayapatra.org

Contribute Charity Donation Towards Mid-day Meal Programme in Schools

Unless we witness, it becomes little difficult to fathom the real benefit of our contribution as charity donation to NGOs. Through our contribution of resources, time and skill, we can get involved with NGOs working towards various causes. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an Indian NGO implementing the mid-day meal programme in schools across India. Currently, the NGO is functional in 24 locations across 10 states thereby feeding more than 1.4 million children. Akshaya Patra Hubli is one of the 24 locations where the NGO has been operational since July 2004. Presently, the kitchen of Akshaya Patra Hubli caters to the mid-day meal requirement of 126,693 children across 789 government schools. The NGO has always strived toward maximising production through innovative and sustainable technology and the kitchen at Hubli is one such example. The centralised kitchen has been upgraded to function by harnessing the power of gravity. The entire kitchen has been designed in a way that right from pre-production stage to loading of cooked meals in to the delivery vans the whole process makes use of the gravitational mechanism.

Over the years of implementing the school lunch programme, Akshaya Patra Hubli has seen the positive impact mid-day meal has had on the children. The kitchen caters to the South Indian palate and serves rice, rasam (a South Indian soup), dal (lentil curry), sambar (lentil based vegetable stew) and vegetable dishes. By this programme, many children started to hope for their dream can be achievable. Many beneficiaries of the organization have their own stories of hope. These stories are a window to the world of millions of beneficiaries and they also reveal how charity donation helps in feeding the hopes of these children. These beneficiaries already have the hopes, dream and the dedication to achieve it, the only thing they need is a little support, encourage and care from you.

Charity donation to Akshaya Patra will help the Foundation to continue implementing the mid-day meal programme in schools. Your support will also enable the Foundation to expand its reach to new locations. The mid-day meal acts as a supporting pillar for the education schemes initiated by the Government of India. As the mid-day meal acts like an incentive for children to attend school and for parents to send their children to school, your contribution will allow more and more children to benefit from the goodness of nutritious meals and education. Researches also show that nutritious mid-day meal has impacted positively on the health, concentration, attendance and enrolment levels among children. It has also helped in decreasing drop-outs among school children.

The donation of 750 towards Akshaya Patra can feed one child each day for an entire year. This donation also makes the donor eligible to receive 100% tax exemption for the amount donated. Thus contribution towards mid-day meal programme proves to be of double benefit, both to the beneficiary and the donor. Contribute charity donation towards school lunch programme and provide wholesome food for education to millions of Indian children.