Akshaya Patra amongst top Midday meal NGOs in India

The Akshaya Patra Foundation had begun serving meals in 2000. Before the Supreme Court mandate, the Foundation was called to provide testimony on large scale feeding because it was already running a cooked school meal programme for 1,500 children across five government schools in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Akshaya Patra is one of the pioneer mid-day meal NGOs in India.

Akshaya Patra’s road to success:

• Harvard Business School, made a case-study on Akshaya Patra and included it in its curriculum.
• In 2010, it made way into India Book of Records for running the world’s largest school meal programme.
• The Foundation hosted renowned personalities like Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Former President of India; His Holiness, The 14th Dalai Lama; Mr Bill Clinton, Former President of USA and many more.
• The efforts and operational transparency maintained by the NGO received multiple national and international recognitions and awards.
• 3 billion cumulative meals were served in the presence of Shri Narendra Modi, Honourable Prime Minister of India in 2019.

Akshaya Patra’s kitchen burners whirr every day without a break

In a span of 19 years of its service towards providing school meals, Akshaya Patra has fed 1.8 million children studying in Government and Government-aided schools of India daily without missing even a single day in between. The 52 different kitchens of the Foundation located in 12 States and 2 Union Territories strive day-in and day-out to provide fresh and nutritious meals to children who wait for it on each school day. 

Strategies used in Akshaya Patra

In order to reach a larger section of children studying in Government and Government-aided school, Akshaya Patra operates both centralised and decentralised kitchens. Out of which centralised kitchens are located in 50 cities where building large infrastructures is possible to serve children within 50km radius. These kitchens have a capacity to serve up to 1 lakh meals. Decentralised kitchens are located in remote locations namely Nayagarh in Odisha and Baran in Rajasthan. These kitchens are monitored by Akshaya Patra staff where women from Self-Help Groups (SHG) are employed to carry out the process of cleaning, cutting vegetable and cooking. The Akshaya Patra kitchens implement ISO 22000:2005 to ensure adherence to utmost safety and hygienic practices so that children receive the best quality meals. 

The Akshaya Patra kitchens follow various technologies and methodologies to ensure cleanliness and hygienically prepared school meals:

Food Safety Management Systems

To equip preparation of midday meals on a large scale, mandatory routines are followed by each member in every kitchen of Akshaya Patra. Both centralised and decentralised kitchens implement Food Safety Management Systems to handle, prepare and deliver food. 

Supplier Quality Management System

To ensure that the best raw materials are acquired right in the initial stages of procurement, Supplier Quality Management Systems are implemented in Akshaya Patra. This includes processes like Supplier selection, Supplier modification, Supplier rating, etc. 

On implementing KAIZEN technologies, Total Production Management and 5S methodologies, Akshaya Patra has always ensured that best quality meals are delivered hygienically and safely so that children can eat hot and fresh meals and look forward to more such meals reaching them the next day. 

From the time meal preparation starts, till the time hot, cooked meals reach children, you play an important role. Online donations made towards Akshaya Patra help in:

1. Increasing school attendance rates
2. Improving overall nutritional status of children
3. Increasing school retention rates
4. Ensuring that children complete their education without any breaks

It is a matter of pride on knowing that children complete their education because you were the reason behind bringing them to school every day. Gain immense pleasure and be the reason for changing lives of millions of children.

Support Akshaya Patra. Donate now.

Why donations are important for non-profits?

Alike any organisation, non-profit organisations too need funds to run their operations. For most NPOs, the only source of their income is donations that come from various donors and corporate partners. Even if an NPO receives subsidies from Government, major portions of their funds are dependent on the donations received from supporters. There are donors who donate in cash, make online donations on a monthly basis, quarterly basis or annually. These donations help organisations work towards their cause, expand their reach and increase their operations.

One such NGO in India is The Akshaya Patra Foundation, which serves mid-day meals to school children studying in Government schools and Government-aided schools.

Raise more funds

Regular donors contribute more than one-time donors. For example, a donor who donates ₹500 monthly is going to be contributing more than a donor who donates ₹5000 at one shot.

Forms strong relationships

Donors who regularly donate towards the cause of providing unlimited food for education to children, either on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis feel more connected to Akshaya Patra’s cause. Such donors are valued for their regular contribution.

Lowers fundraising costs

Fundraising is an expensive task in itself. Acquiring new donors cost more than the cost of retainin

g existing donors. The amount saved in retaining customers can be used in other processes like recruiting, catering to a larger audience of children, expanding Akshaya Patra kitchen operations, etc.

When you become a regular contributor towards The Akshaya Patra Foundation, you are directly helping in expanding its operations across the country. As of today, 1.8 million children are fed regularly with healthy school meals. The Foundation is present in 52 locations and serves from centralised and decentralised kitchens spread across 12 States and 2 Union Territories in India. 20 of these kitchens are ISO 22000:2005 certified and the remaining are in the process of certification. Strict safety and hygiene methods are topmost priorities in each and every kitchen.

Akshaya Patra caters to the local palate

Akshaya Patra serves mid-day meals in a cyclic manner by preparing local cuisines. For example, Bisibelebhath is served in Karnataka, Sukhdi is served in Gujarat and Aloo Matar is served in Odisha, and so on. Adopting a cyclical approach helps in ensuring inclusion of all nutrients, variety of food items, and providing children tasty food every day.

You can serve locally palatable meals to children by contributing here.

How can you take part in Akshaya Patra’s cause?

•         You can donate online

•         You can conduct an online fundraising campaign

•         You can become an online ambassador of Akshaya Patra

•         You can take part in Volunteering opportunities

Your support is essential for Akshaya Patra at every stage to make sure that children benefit from the Mid-Day Meal Programme.

Change a Child's life by giving hope

Children are the foundation on which the future of a nation is built. The Akshaya Patra Foundation strengthens this base by implementing the Government of India’s Mid-Day Meal Scheme. The Foundation feeds nutritious school meals to over 1.8 million children studying in 19,039 Government schools and Government-aided schools every day. Hygienically cooked meals are prepared from centralised and decentralised kitchens from 52 locations spread across 12 States and 2 Union Territories.

To know about all the Akshaya Patra kitchens serving mid-day meals in India, click here.

Mid-day meals are a great intervention to help children take a step forward towards their education. Quality and hygiene are top priorities during the whole process of feeding children – starting from procuring of raw materials to taking feedback on the quality of meals. Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) are implemented in all kitchens to prepare, handle, and deliver meals. The best raw materials are procured after implementing the Supplier Quality Management System (SQMS). By the use of 304 Grade stainless steel in its kitchens, meals are cooked in vessels that can endure high temperature levels to ensure that hot meals reach the children on a daily basis.

To know more about the ISO Certified Kitchens, click here.

What is the impact of mid-day meals on children?

Mid-day meals have a long-term effect on children. When you donate online, you bring out the best in them in the following manner:

·         Mid-day meals fill a child’s stomach and with a full stomach, children concentrate better without any diversions in class. School lunches help in eliminating classroom hunger.

·         When there is an increased attention-span in school, grades of children improve automatically.

·         Regular school meals become a reason for children to come back to school every day. This becomes a source for them to continue their education as well.

·         Mid-day meals when consumed on a daily basis, become a source of healthy development in children which gives them hope to dream like other children.

Here is a short story of the children who go to schools in anticipation of mid-day meals.

Children sit in the classroom; some rubbing their eyes, some yawning, one child asking doubts to another and some trying to concentrate hard on the teacher’s voice. Some of their stomachs growl with hunger and some of them are unable to concentrate in class because of the rats running in their stomachs.

All children wait for the faintest sound of the peon walking towards the bell. Their ears stand up on the onset of the lunch break bell. Chaos sets in with the ‘yeayy’ of children. All of them frantically close their books and run towards the blue delivery vans that have just finished unloading their food. They all line up for their plates in a systematic order, one behind the other without hitting or pushing one another, waiting for their turn to be served with hot and yummy food. They sit together with their friends, classmates, juniors and seniors and savour their school meals like one big family.

Once they are done, they are all back to their classes where a few of them concentrate in class while others engage in co-curricular activities and the rest take part in physical activities.

To read stories of children, click here.

You too can support the feeding of children to bring the excitement and smiles on their faces. Your support can feed unlimited food for education to children with Akshaya Patra.

Share this article within your circle of family and friends to help us in feeding 5 million children every day, by 2025.

With the onset of the unprecedented Coronavirus disaster, Akshaya Patra is working towards providing food relief to daily-wage workers, labourers and the marginalised sections of the society, with cooked meals and essential kits. To help the people in distress, click here to donate.

To make a mid-day meal donation, click here.

Making Small Donations Towards NGOs make Bigger Impacts

A group of children fought with stray dogs over scraps of food. His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, after seeing this disheartening scene ensured that no child within a radius of ten miles from the centre should go hungry. This inspiring thought sowed the seeds of the vision: “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger” for The Akshaya Patra Foundation. It started feeding 1,500 children in Bengaluru in the year 2000. The Foundation implements the Central Government’s Mid-Day Meal Programme and feeds a whopping 1.8 million children on a daily basis as on today.

Akshaya Patra is an NGO that accepts online donations to make a huge impact on the beneficiary children. Every single time you make a donation to this NGO in India, you are giving reasons for children to come to school. By being a part of this organisation, you take care of children’s health and well-being. 

“Giving is not just about making a donation.It is about making a difference.” – Kathy Calvin

How does your donation leave an impact?

• Your support ensures daily meals to children attending school. This improves their health.
• You play an important role in increasing the number of children attending school. This also means that your donation can create an impact by reducing the school drop-out rate.
• Your help gives hope to children that no matter which section of the society they belong to, they too can gain education like other children.
• Your help to provide children with every day meals, helps them focus on not an empty stomach, but on their education. This improves their attention span.
• Free mid-day meals help in increasing school enrolment rates. This means that your contribution helps the society on the whole.

Feeding 1.8 million children is a humungous task in itself; there are million more children who need the right amount of nourishment to grow adequately. This is in your hands!

Akshaya Patra works relentlessly with an aim to feed 5 million children daily by 2025.

With ₹5500, you can ensure that 5 children receive nutritious meals for an entire year of their schooling. Whether it is a student of 10^th Standard or a child studying in 4^th standard, your support will ensure a healthy year of school life to them.

Support Akshaya Patra to continue providing nutritious mid-day meals to children, on each school day.