#BlogToFeedAChild

Every day of school is synonymous with fun, friends and free unlimited food for children. They looked forward to coming to school because they get to meet their friends, narrate experiences of the previous day and sit together to eat their mid-day meals. With the on-going chaos caused by the COVID pandemic, schools, colleges and offices are shut down indefinitely. Children who were dependent on one source of wholesome meal a day were left without a wholesome source of nutrition to fight the virus.

Earlier during school, the sound of the delivery van brought on a 1000-watt smile on the faces of children. But, with schools closed down for a while, the delivery vans are left in their memories of children till schools reopen. If it was not for the COVID pandemic, children would have begun a new academic year and The Akshaya Patra Foundation would have continued implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme to feed children.

How did Akshaya Patra tackle this situation?
The COVID-19 virus could not stop The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an NGO in India that was synonymous with feeding school meals. In continuation of up-keeping the health of children and to engage them with school-related learning activities amid the pandemic, the Foundation started distributing Happiness Bags to its beneficiaries in Bengaluru, as a part of its feeding programme.

How would Happiness Bags help?

Each Box distributed to its beneficiaries:
• Ensures children continue to receive wholesome meals in the prevailing crisis.
• Boosts immunity and health of children.
• Ensures that basic hygiene requirements are addressed.
• Engages children in activities that support their continuous learning amid the lockdown.

Every Happiness Box supports the well-being of children by providing them with immunity, adequate nutrition, hygiene kit and learning materials.
• Nutrition – Adequate and right nutrition helps in giving children the energy required for proper physical and cognitive development.
• Immunity – Turmeric is known to boost immunity. Immunity boosters like sambar and turmeric powders help in improving resistance to diseases.
• Hygiene – Basic hygiene products like toothpaste, toothbrush and soap are provided to the beneficiaries. For girl children, a pack of sanitary napkins is provided as well.
• Education – To keep their minds active during the lockdown, an activity book, pencils or pens, crayon or colouring set and Classmate notebooks are packed in the box distributed to every child.

By supporting their food and education, we at Akshaya Patra look forward to bringing out the best in children because they are the ones who decide the future of our nation. This is why this initiative is of utmost importance. We are present in 52 locations spread across 12 States and 2 Union Territories of India. The pandemic has given us a strong reason to reach out to all the children we would have reached otherwise. Children hailing from challenging socio-economic backgrounds require your support. Pledge to feed a child with Akshaya Patra’s Happiness Box initiative. Every little child has the right to food and education, even amid the crisis hour. All we need to do is give the right resources to strengthen them and their cognitive abilities.

Provide Happiness Bags to help children become physically stronger and intellectually sharper

Healthy children grow into healthy adults
How can we ensure good health for children?

Good health comes from consuming healthy food
Since they are the adults of tomorrow, it is imperative that we feed the children so that they get the required nutrition which ensures their holistic development.

Around 40% of children in India are undernourished

Various NGOs like The Akshaya Patra Foundation are working towards reversing these numbers. By implementing the Central Government’s Mid-Day Meal Scheme, it feeds nutritious meals to children belonging to challenging socio-economic backgrounds. It works towards two causes simultaneously – food and education. It feeds unlimited food for education to 18,00,907 children studying in 19,039 Government schools and Government-aided schools. The Foundation feeds in 52 different locations spread across 12 States and 2 Union Territories of India.

To know about locations in which Akshaya Patra implements the Mid-Day Meal Programme, click here.

Children are the foundation on which lies the progress of the nation. Akshaya Patra feeds healthy meals that take care of the nutritional requirements stated by the Central Government of India for providing mid-day meals to school children.

Locally palatable meals are served to children in a cyclical order to avoid wastage of food. This means that each state prepares meals that are region-specific. For example, roti and aloo matar is served in Haryana, while bisibele bhath is served in Karnataka and pulisu curry is served in Andhra Pradesh. This initiative ensures that children also relish their food.

Here are a few stories of children who enjoy eating meals prepared by Akshaya Patra:

Mitali from Gujarat dreams of becoming a Designer

Mitali and her little sister live with her mother who stitches mattress covers. She aims to be a mattress designer and says, “I feel that by being a designer of mattresses, I would create and sell dreams.” She never misses Akshaya Patra’s meals because they are very tasty. It is very much needed for us when her mother has to leave home early in search of work.

Megha wants to become a nutritionist when she grows up

Megha was prone to falling sick very often in her childhood. Knowing the importance of healthy and nutritious meals early in her life, she says, “Even though we go to school empty stomach, we come back home with tummy-filled happiness as Akshaya Patra serves unlimited tasty meals.”

Tanaya from Odisha wants to become an architect

A 6th standard student studying in Odisha wants to give shape to the blueprints of dream homes of people. She has been Akshaya Patra’s beneficiary for six years and says she loves “the food, especially the soya bean curry. It is my favourite and I like to have it with rice.” The food delights her every day that it reaches on time daily excites her.

To read more such stories of children, click here.

The hope that meals bring in children’s lives is worth a read. Your online donations have the capacity to help children realise that they can dream and achieve them too. Meals are a medium to bring them one step closer to reality, support the feeding of children by joining Akshaya Patra.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO in India that not only provides mid-day meals to school children but also provides cooked meals and essential kits during the Corona pandemic. As a part of its COVID-19 relief services, it has served a total of 5 crore meals to lower-income sections of the society. With your donations towards Akshaya Patra, you help your fellow citizens during the Lockdown period.

Good nutrition, adequate and balance diet is the epitome of good health. These are the founding stones of a strong and healthy immune system. Boosting immunity during this hour of COVID-19 pandemic is what reaps bountiful benefits.

Millions of people around the world are abiding to the ‘social distancing’ and ‘staying safe at home’ norms laid down by the Government of India during the lockdown. Due to the increasing number of people being tested positive for COVID-19, the lockdown that aims to reduce the rapid spread of the disease, seems very far from being lifted. There are millions of people who are unable to go back to their homeland and are stuck at various places. Along with these people, there are others who are not able to access basic resources that are essential for survival; as they rely on daily wages.

The pandemic threatens the ‘at-risk’ population including children, new-borns and the elderly as well. With no catering services to feed them and schools not functioning during the pandemic, they do not get the adequate amount of food that they would otherwise have access to. To help them fight the threat of hunger lurking during the pandemic, many Non-Government Organisations have come forward to provide support. As per The Economic Times, according to the World Food Programme analysis, 130 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020, due to COVID-19.

Going by those number, hunger would kill more number of people than COVID-19. The Akshaya Patra Foundation stepped in to address this problem and started its COVID-19 relief services on 25th March 2020. Working in close coordination with Government of India, State Governments & District Administration, along with receiving ample support in the form of COVID-19 donations from individual donors, corporate donors and the help of thousands of volunteers, it provides food relief to the needy people. It feeds the marginalised and low-income sections of the society that comprises of daily wage workers, construction site workers, migrant labourers and needy people at old age homes and night shelters. The Foundation is serving cooked meals and distributing dry essential kits to the needy on a daily basis during the lockdown period. Till date, Akshaya Patra has served a cumulative of 5 crore meals in the states of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tripura, West Bengal and Punjab.

This World Hunger Day, be a part of Akshaya Patra’s COVID-19 Relief Services. Donate to feed the marginalized sections of the society.

Akshaya Patra is a not-for-profit organization serving mid-day meals on a daily basis to around two lakh children studying in Government and Government-aided schools in Rajasthan. The NGO has been operational in the state since 2004 and currently feeds 2,31,187 children studying in 4,428 schools. These children are fed mid-day meals that are prepared from 10 kitchens situated in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Nathdwara, Ajmer, Baran, Bhilwara, Jhalawar, Bikaner, Udaipur, and Chittorgarh.

How would you like to be deserted in a land surrounded by palaces, forts and museums, and rich heritage? Overwhelming isn’t it? Palaces and forts ring only one bell in our minds – Rajasthan, the princely state of India.
In stark contrast to this beautiful side of the state, there prevails some concerning facts too!

Did you know? Rajasthan has
• A literacy rate of only 66%.
• The 3rd lowest literacy rate nationwide.
• Is one of the BIMARU states.

Is there a way in which you can work to make the scenario better? Is there any NGO in Rajasthan that you could associate yourself with?

Of course!

In every sphere of life, in every situation, there is a scope for betterment. This is why the Government of India started the Mid-Day Meal Scheme.

What is mid-day meal? How does it impact education?
There are millions and millions of children who belong to challenging socio-economic backgrounds. Hence, it is difficult for them to eat one square meal a day. The Akshaya Patra Foundation started the implementing the Mid-Day Meal Programme so that school children get the right nutrition for their development and are able to concentrate better in their school. Mid-day meals act as a catalyst in bringing children to school.

What is Akshaya Patra?
The Akshaya Patra Foundation is the largest implementer of the Mid-Day Meal Programme in India. The seed of this idea was sown with a vision that ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.’

Today, the organization feeds 1.8 million children spread across 52 locations in 12 States and 2 Union Territories in India.

With Rajasthan trying to battle the school drop-out rate, this was an initiative that was welcomed with open arms. The Foundation started its first kitchen in Rajasthan in the year 2004. Today, this charity nourishes 2,31,187 children across the state on each school day.

Advent in Rajasthan
In the year 2004, a centralised kitchen was started in Jaipur. From the day of inception, it has been continuously feeding school children who come from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Today, it feeds mid-day meals to school children studying in 4,428 Government and Government-aided schools.

The Foundation works for the cause ‘Food for Education’ of children across the nation and in 10 locations of Rajasthan:

The first and foremost priority in any kitchen is hygiene and cleanliness. Akshaya Patra operates from both centralised and decentralised kitchens which adhere strictly to the norms laid out as per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The Nathdwara, Jaipur and Ajmer kitchens are ISO: 22000:2005 certified. The rest of the kitchens in Rajasthan are following the suite.

What does the meal contain?
Mid-day meals are prepared keeping in mind the recommended dietary norms for children have to get while maintaining a hygienic environment. As pulses, grains and vegetables enhance growth of children, Akshaya Patra includes them in the daily school meals of children. Rice and dal are prepared in large cauldrons that are cooked and transported in high grade Stainless Steel.

The kitchens in Rajasthan serve locally palatable meals that children would enjoy eating in their schools. The kitchen follows a cyclic menu so that there is a variety in each day’s meal but contains adequate nutrients too. Some of the menu items served in Rajasthan are:

Apart from the raw materials that go into preparation of mid-day meals, there is lots of love and care that is packed into these meals. Soon these meals will reverse the current literacy scenario of the state and empower children with health, education and confidence to achieve, turning Rajasthan into a truly royal state.

Wouldn’t you like to contribute in the making of a royal state?

Support generously. A contribution of ?1100 will feed a child on every school day for 1 year.

FLASHBACK:

During our childhood days, we would pulsate with so much energy that our parents would find it difficult to tame us. Remember how you escaped from your mom’s clutches to go and play with your friends? Do you remember the days when you constantly engaged yourself in some games or activities to keep yourself from disturbing others or bombarding your parents with un-answerable questions? This is what high energy levels would do to you.

Ever wondered how children have such high energy levels? The secret lies in the food that our parents fed us. No amount of our nagging or saying ‘I am full’ could stop our parents. Call this love or call this concern, our parents knew the best. Food is the biggest source of energy for children. For children who hail from challenging backgrounds cannot afford wholesome meals. Here Midday Meal Scheme comes by as a potential intervention.

FACT: A child between 4-8 years needs a minimum of 1200-1400 calories a day.

When children are in the developing stages of their lives (6-14 years); given the high metabolism in children, food gets digested faster and is absorbed very easily. Which makes it all the more essential to increase nutritional content in meals.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation aims to cater food to those children who come from challenging socio-economic backgrounds. It feeds 1.8 million children by implementing the Midday Meal Programme on an everyday basis. It addresses the nutritional gaps to fight long-term hunger which in turn increases concentration levels of children. This NGO in India has been recognised as the world’s largest NGO-run school lunch programme. It operates in 51 locations of 12 States and 2 Union Territories of India. With the vision of ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’, it aims to feed 5 million children by 2025.

The nutritious meals that the Foundation serves, becomes an incentive for young children which in turn opens doors to education and opportunities. Healthy and wholesome meals improve children’s nutritional and health status, which ensure better cognitive development.

How can you contribute towards Akshaya Patra’s cause?

The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been working relentlessly since 2000 to nourish children with healthy school meals. In order to support the development of children, you can make an online donation to the NGO with an amount of ₹1100 to feed 1 child for an entire academic year. If each one of us thinks and contributes towards the development of children studying in Government and Government-aided schools, we can ensure a healthy upcoming generation of Doctors, Engineers, Teachers, Data Analysts, Directors, Photographers and Choreographers and much more.

Set the stage for a bright future of the Country.

Your support to children is important!

Sponsor meals & Save Tax!

This Diwali, share the goodness of wholesome meals
and the light of education with 1.8 million children
across India.

Diwali, the festival of lights is one of the most awaited festivals in India. It is celebrated with much enthusiasm by people across all age groups and regions. While we engage in making this festive season joyful and memorable, let’s take a moment to spread the joy among children who needs our support. All we need to do is, gift them school meals! Celebrate Diwali 2019 with Akshaya Patra.

Diwali is one of the most-awaited festivals of India. People across the country and ages celebrate it with much enthusiasm and vigour. They decorate their homes and offices with diyas, flowers, and rangolis, offer prayers, distribute gifts and sweets to near and dear ones, organise get-togethers, and enjoy fireworks. This festival of lights brightens up our homes and hearts with love, joy, and warmth. Diwali celebration has its significance across various belief systems, but the symbolic cord that runs common across all of them is the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance.

Diwali 2019 – Let’s make it brighter!
Diwali comes just once a year and celebrating with and gifting our loved ones is an expression of our love, goodwill, respect, and gratefulness. While most of us have made our shopping and gifting lists ready, how about adding one more thing to make this year’s Diwali celebration better and brighter. Well, all you have to do is add ‘Gift a Meal’ to your list.

This Diwali, take a moment to gift children the goodness of nutrition and education. These children hail from challenging socio-economic backgrounds, yet their willpower and zeal to attend school and achieve their dreams defeats all the odds and hurdles. Your choice of contributing a donation on Diwali to The Akshaya Patra Foundation will make sure 1,802,517 children receive nutritious lunch on each school day. Akshaya Patra delivers freshly cooked, wholesome meals to 16,856 Government and Government-aided schools from its kitchens located in 51 locations of 12 States and 2 Union Territories of India.

When you ‘Gift a Meal’, you:
• Nourish children with the goodness of wholesome meals;
• Brighten up their lives with good health;
• Empower them with education; and
• Prepare them to be resourceful individuals in the near future.

How you can ‘Gift a Meal’
Let’s make Diwali 2019 a memorable one for ourselves and the children. Here are the many ways you can brighten up a child’s life with food and education:
• Add joy to a child’s life instantly by contributing Rs. 1,100 as donation on Diwali.
• Multiply the joy by conducting a fundraising campaign to benefit more children.
• Make your Diwali celebration bigger by sponsoring a school.

Share the joys of Diwali celebration with children for whom regular school meals are a ray of hope for a happier and prosperous future!

“A good teacher can inspire hope,
ignite the imagination,
and instil a love of learning.” – Brad Henry Love

As a token of respect, care, regards, affection, gratitude, and honour, Teacher’s Day is celebrated across India and world. We too believe that teachers are no less than an architect or a designer of our society as a whole. Teachers, gurus and mentors play a major role in shaping the young minds of the society. Akshaya Patra bows down to pay a heartfelt respect to those makers of the society, called – Teachers.

We bring you an example of a teacher who went against the wind in her life so that little school children can create their own success stories someday.

Age doesn’t matter with being an epitome of inspiration. Smt. G. Chandrakala, a teacher from Government Model Primary School, Jigani, Karnataka is one such example.

This middle-aged lady encourages her students in school to sharpen their skills, has elders in the village approaching her to solve issues, and has been navigating change in her own family too. But the actual course of change began with her— eighteen years back when she became a Teacher in a Government School.

Elders say, ‘Decisions Determine Destiny.’ These words proved to be true for Chandrakala Miss (as is lovingly referred to by students) and her family. Instead of keeping aside her certificates and cornering skills at an early age, she decided to pursue her studies further. Despite of economically challenged background, with her unparalleled will-power, she cracked through all the tests and finally joined the school.

“I knew I had to do well in academics and for that I was ready to sacrifice all the little happy moments of my growing up phase, extend my study hours leaving behind all the household chores including offering help to my mother. All these paid off when I see myself within the gates of the school every day, teaching children for their bright future,” says Chandrakala.

Chandrakala further mentions that most of the children coming to the school belong to an economically challenged background. They look forward to the support from Non-Government Organisation (NGO) like The Akshaya Patra Foundation. Being in the school, she has closely noticed the fact that mid-day meals tremendously enhance the enrolment rate of students. And the increasing number of students in the attendance register has been a testimony to this.

Share the most delightful moment with your favourite teacher in the comments section below. Relive your sweet childhood that still lasts in your memories and make you smile, even today!

Do you remember the good old school days when you shared lunch with your friends? Well, The Akshaya Patra Foundation brings you an opportunity to feel the same joy sharing lunch with its recently launched #iShareMyLunch campaign. This campaign gives you and all of us a chance to share our lunch with a school child for one entire school year by contributing just Rs. 950.

S.S. Rajamouli, the famed Director of the award winning Indian film Baahubali has already supported #iShareMyLunch campaign by sharing his lunch with 2,500 children for an entire year.

School lunch is an important aspect of education. It positively impacts the health, concentration levels, and enthusiasm among children to actively participate in school activities. Studies have also indicated that school lunch has significantly increased school enrolment and reduced drop-out rate. School lunch also acts as an incentive for families from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds to send their children to school. More so, school meals instil confidence and determination among children that they will certainly be able to achieve their goals and dreams.

It’s time we all share our lunch with budding hearts. Click here to share your lunch! Akshaya Patra will use your contribution to provide nutritious, freshly cooked, tasty meals to school children for an entire year.

This World Hunger Day, here’s what we truly hope – win over hunger and all forms of hunger! As a NGO involved in providing mid-day meals to school children, we are not only targeting at eliminating classroom hunger, but we are aiming at enriching children with nutrition-rich meals – the only way to tackle hunger, hidden hunger, and malnutrition.

Facts and figures based on FAO, WFP, Global Hunger Index, Livemint, and The Wire

Childhood is a memoir of sweet recollections. It kindles in one, inestimable joy that lives forever in our hearts. It plays a pivotal role in an individual’s development and how they grow up as social beings. If there is something called a ‘complete’ childhood, then it should comprise of innocence, enjoyment and self exploration. But most of all, it should comprise of food in plenty, a school to study and friends to have a sense of belongingness. These serve as the perfect ingredients for a happy and much desired childhood!

Now the begged question, why food?

Firstly, because it keeps the child alive! Secondly, “hunger makes a thief of any man” and finally, it prevents them from attending school. Hunger forces them into labour, depriving them of education, their right as defined by The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).  Above all, it stands between them and their classrooms.

Second important question, why school?

School is children’s second home. It is their seat of education. Education builds a strong foundation in children’s lives. It helps break chains of poverty that is inextricably linked to their future, their empowerment, their economic growth.  Education offers them a ticket to their dreams which are as diverse as stars of the constellation.

Third, why sense of belongingness?

Belongingness because, it is a child’s inherent, intrinsic desire to belong. The child desires to be an element of something important, something fascinating, and larger than selves. That sense of belongingness comes from a friend that the school helps in finding. After all, what is childhood without the sweet bonds of friendship? It is impossible to fathom the joy children feel amidst their friends. For them, it is the perfect feeling to know that they have precisely the right person/people around to live their childhood. Be it lunch time or school itself, nothing is complete without that friend!

Why are we saying all this to you?

We say so, because we at Akshaya Patra believe in the maxim, ‘feed the children’. Why we believe so, because that is our only answer to the question, ‘how to end world hunger?’ Our wholesome, lip-smacking mid-day meals attract millions to their school doors. The very thought of a meal is enough motivation for our beneficiaries to attend school, receive education, cultivate friendship and say bye-bye to classroom hunger.

Hence, this World Hunger Day, let’s celebrate childhood through our meals. Let’s feed the children in need who have every right to a healthy childhood. Let’s all come together as a community and endeavour to find ways on how to end world hunger. We should do so with utmost priority because every hungry child must be fed and education should be accessible to every child. Hunger must not be a threat to childhood because only when there will be no hungry bellies, childhood will be complete and lessons will be read in unison!