International Literacy Day is observed on 8 September every year. It presents a platform for various Governments, societies and stakeholders to advocate for and highlight improvements in literacy rates, internationally. It also reflects on the prevailing literacy challenges. UN’s Sustainable Development Goals also include the concern of literacy. Sustainable Development Goal 4 talks about ensuring that all young people achieve access to education and numeracy and those adults who lack these skills are given the opportunity to acquire them.

Theme of 2019: Literacy and Multilingualism

“Our world is rich and diverse with about 7,000 living languages. These languages are instruments for communication, engagement in lifelong learning, and participation in society and the world of work. They are also closely linked with distinctive identities, cultures, worldviews, and knowledge systems. Embracing linguistic diversity in education and literacy development is therefore a key part of developing inclusive societies that respect “diversity” and “difference,” upholding human dignity.” – Audrey Azoulay, Director General, Message on the occasion of the International Literacy Day
Source: https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/literacyday

The focus of International Literacy Day 2019 revolves around ‘Literacy and Multilingualism.’ Regardless of progress made, literacy challenges continue, spread unevenly through different countries and its population. Considering linguistic diversity in education, literacy improvement is essential to address these literacy challenges.

By implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, The Akshaya Patra Foundation (a Non-Profit Organization, headquartered in Bengaluru) works diligently to make sure that children receive their daily school meals thereby supporting their schooling and ambitions. By providing nutritious mid-day meals, Akshaya Patra addresses their need for nutrition and education. Irrespective of the cultural and linguistic diversity, by implementing this programme, Akshaya Patra has witnessed children achieving success by being young gymnasts, runners, police officers, doctors, professors, chefs, dancers and much more. Hence, we feel ‘food for education’ promotes the power of literacy. Join us.

HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?

Sponsor a child
By sponsoring a child at Akshaya Patra (a charity in India) you help the child to get an access to education and healthy mid-day meals on all school days. On this International Literacy Day, we encourage you to support our cause and help us to increase our impact across India.

Volunteer
Register yourself as an online fundraising volunteer. Every amount raised will go to provide the much-needed mid-day meals to the schoolchildren. Donate online.

Share on Social Media
Be a social media ambassador for Akshaya Patra on various social media platforms. In this digitally connected era, all of us spend some time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms. Why not dedicate some time for a noble cause?

• Tweet and re-tweet about Akshaya Patra for #InternationalLiteracyDay
• Follow us on Facebook
• Engage with us on Instagram

Fani, one of the strongest and rarest cyclones in the Bay of Bengal hit eastern India on 3 May 2019 affecting Odisha the most. Heed to early warnings, effective disaster management strategy, and quick response indeed curbed the extent of damage. An estimated 1.2 million people were evacuated from the coastal areas in Odisha keeping loss of life and number of affected people to a minimum. Yet, the high velocity winds of 175 kmph coupled with heavy rainfall left the region in a state of destruction damaging infrastructure, power supply lines and uprooting innumerable trees. The aftermath of the merciless cyclone Fani was witnessed in Akshaya Patra’s Puri kitchen too.

Relief work by Akshaya Patra
It’s time now to recover from the damage caused by the cyclone. Akshaya Patra has stepped in the relief work by providing cooked meals to cyclone-affected people of Odisha. The Foundation is providing these meals from its kitchen in Bhubaneswar.

Location of relief work: Brahmagiri, Satar, Kanas, Satyabadi, Puri and other 130 locations.
Start date of relief work: 15 May 2019
Total Meals Served: 56,250 meals 
Meal menu: Rice, dal, and khatta (a tomato-based chutney).

Know more: https://www.akshayapatra.org/photo-gallery/akshaya-patras-relief-operations-in-cyclone-hit-odisha

Rebuilding Puri kitchen
Cyclone Fani has caused huge infrastructural damage to Akshaya Patra’s Puri kitchen. This centralised kitchen serves nutritious school meals every day to 46,904 children studying in 598 Government schools. Hence, the Foundation looks forward to making the Puri kitchen operational at the earliest so that it can restart providing the much-needed school meals to children.

Akshaya Patra’s Past Disaster Relief Activities
The core cause of Akshaya Patra is to implement the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. However, Akshaya Patra is always actively involved in disaster relief services by providing food to affected people. Here is a quick overview of Akshaya Patra’s past relief activities:

Kerala Flood Relief
Activity Period: 13 August 2018 to 30 September 2018
Total Meals Served: More than 1 lakh

Chennai Flood Relief
Activity Period: 8 December 2015 to 25 December 2015
Total Rice-based Meals Served: 2,12,000

Gorakhpur Flood Relief
Activity Period: 25 August 2017 to 8 September 2017
Total Rice-based Meals Served: 84,200
Total Theplas Served: 1,92,000

Nepal Earthquake Relief
Akshaya Patra airlifted 1,00,000 meals to earthquake hit Nepal in April 2015. It also established a centralized kitchen in June 2015 to support the affected people of the region. The Earthquake Relief Centralised Kitchen Project was a joint initiative undertaken by Akshaya Patra, Jamsetji Tata Trust, and Sipradian Sahayata Sanstha. The kitchen served 1.4 million meals to the affected people for 88 days.

Gujarat Flood Relief
Activity Period: 25 July 2017 to 30 July 2017
Total Theplas Served: 4,00,000
Areas Covered: Banaskantha District (North Gujarat), Kalol, and Ahmedabad regions.

Support Akshaya Patra
Join in the relief operations by donating to Akshaya Patra. Your donation will be extremely helpful in providing food to cyclone-affected people in Odisha and in rebuilding the kitchen in Puri.