Engage With Us

Imagine what a grand opportunity it would be to spend an hour or two picking your favourite celebrity’s brain?

That’s the chance you get with Fly with VIP, an initiative that seats a lucky person beside a celebrity to chat and ask questions for the duration of a flight. The proceeds from this initiative will be donated to a charity of the celebrity’s choice. Akshaya Patra has been chosen as the beneficiary by Bollywood celebrities Amitabh Bachchan, R Balki, Akshara Haasan and Dhanush R!

Participants can vie for this opportunity in two ways: by bidding in an auction where the highest bid wins the seat, or by taking part in a lucky draw contest where each raffle ticket costs Rs. 100. The initiative also allows participants to place non-binding bids without any information regarding the celebrity’s flight date or sector. When the celebrity makes a travel plan, participants who booked in advance will take part in a one-hour long auction for the seat.

The auction for seats beside Amitabh Bachchan, R Balki, Akshara Haasan and Dhanush R for their flight on 2nd February from Mumbai to New Delhi closes on 30th January!

Click here to start bidding for the opportunity to spend time with your favourite star, and support a noble cause too.

Click a Smile, our annual international photography competition, is back! Better and bolder than before, we’re just raring to kick start our month long competition. So whether you are a professional or an amateur photographer, but you have passion and soul in your images, then you need to take part in our contest!

So here’s what you need to know about Click a Smile 2014:

• You need to take a photograph of a smiling child (or children), from anywhere in the world, and send it in to us
• The photographs will be judged by an exclusive panel of judges and the top three will be selected
• The winners will receive a trophy, certificate and surprise gift from Akshaya Patra!
• Competition dates: 20th November to 22nd December, 2014!

Click a Smile celebrates the innocence and joy of youth that can be seen in the smile of a child. This is our effort to celebrate children, and the need to make their formative years as secure and joyous as possible. After all, childhood is the best time of a person’s life.

Last year Click a Smile brought in over 700 entries from across 7 countries! This year we know we can beat that and raise the bar even higher. So log onto the Click a Smile 2014 website for more details, and register now!

We don’t have to be global leaders and corporate moguls for our words to make a difference in the world. What if you, by simple virtue of penning down your thoughts, could help tackle the problem of classroom hunger in India?

The Akshaya Patra Foundation and Blogadda have teamed up for a worldwide blogging competition running for four weeks till 14th December, 2014. Bloggers will have to write on the topic ‘How do we eliminate classroom hunger? Imagine what India would be like if no child goes hungry and an entire generation is educated! Blog and make a difference with Akshaya Patra and Blogadda.’

Participants of the competition have to register themselves on the website, and submit their blogs before the closing date. For every blog submitted, Blogadda will feed one beneficiary of The Akshaya Patra Foundation for an entire year.

From the entries Akshaya Patra will choose the top five blogs which will be featured as part of an exclusive series on the Foundation’s official blog, and promoted via social media channels. Each contestant can submit up to five entries for the competition.

This competition provides bloggers with a platform to express their views on how to tackle the issue of childhood hunger in India and its social impact, and also provides a means for them to directly contribute to the improvement of a child’s life.

So give your words the power of change. Register now.

Getting involved in a charitable organisation is a very personal decision, one that is approached differently for each person. The kind of charity chosen; the amount of time, effort or money spent; or the degree of personal interaction with the charity all vary depending on the nature of the donor. That’s why we at The Akshaya Patra Foundation have made it a point of vital importance to have a range of engagement options to choose from. After all, working for a cause should be as enriching for you as it is for us.

So if you would like to get involved with Akshaya Patra, here are some fun options to choose from, and there’s something for everyone:

Organise an activity – If you are the go-getting, detail-oriented, list-making type, raise awareness for the cause by organising an event at a Government school where Akshaya Patra serves the mid-day meal, or at another suitable venue. Else you can also take part in an event that is being organised by the Foundation. Have fun planning and executing the programme with the help of the Akshaya Patra team! (Know more)

Support us online – For those of you who are more homebody’s, help spread the word by promoting Akshaya Patra on your social networking sites, blogging about us, registering yourself as an online fundraising volunteer, forwarding our mailers to your family and friends, using our screen savers and posters for your computer, and introducing Akshaya Patra to your online communities and fans. (Know more)

Partner with us – Do you have a business you would like to associate with Akshaya Patra? Then make us a part of your CSR plan! Start a long-term campaign, or a yearly contribution; make a single donation or raise awareness for us, there’s lots you can do if you choose to partner with us. (Know more)

Fundraise for us – Be the local hero by fund-raising with us, either at home, at school or in the community. Do it yourself, or get a team together to create your own fund raising campaign and run the show right from getting it started to paying in the funds. Remember more funds means more food, for more children, and you can help us get there! (Know more)

Banner Advertising – Download and print our banners and put them up in your locality to let people know about Akshaya Patra. Simple yet effective, this easy solution will help us reach out to a lot more people through you, than we could alone. (Know more)

We understand that we all have different lives and needs. If you don’t have the time or energy to devote to our cause, a single/repetitive donation will still make a big difference. If you would like to fill your day or change your lifestyle, volunteer to spend time at the schools with the children or coordinate for a programme. You can do as much or as little as you wish and we will appreciate you whole-heartedly all the same. Join with us, so that together we can #EndClassroomHunger.

If you have any other ideas/queries, write to us at infodesk@akshayapatra.org

When it comes to supporting worthy causes, corporates especially play a central role in helping NGOs and other philanthropic organisations achieve their goals. Corporate Social Responsibility is not just about donations made by a company towards a charity. Rather it signifies the commitment of the organisation to work towards the betterment of society, while adopting business strategies and policies that are in favour of these goals.

Corporate Social Responsibility has been a big boon in our mission to #EndClassroonHunger. With the help of various large organisations Akshaya Patra has succeeded in improving the lives of thousands of hungry children across India. The following CSR campaigns with Akshaya Patra have been highly effective through their innovative concepts, yielding results either through donations of money or food products.

Sugar Free ‘Donate Your Calories to Help Nourish Children’ Campaign: Zydus Wellness Ltd. has partnered with Akshaya Patra through ‘Sugar Free’, their sugar substitute brand. The campaign highlights the dichotomy between people who carry excess weight versus the thousands of people who are severely malnourished in India. According to the campaign, for every usage of Sugar Free, the consumer saves a number of ‘unwanted calories’ which are then converted to ‘useful calories’ through a monetary contribution to The Akshaya Patra Foundation. Zydus Wellness made a token donation of 5 million calories toward Akshaya Patra for this campaign, which will be monetised later.

Protinex ‘Nutrition at Re. 1’ Campaign: Protinex, the leading protein supplement brand in India, donated Re. 1 to Akshaya Patra for every tin of Protinex Original sold. The organisation adopted 3,500 children across 28 schools, and donated Rs. 27 lakhs to The Akshaya Patra Foundation during the course of this campaign.

Worldoo.com ‘Gift A Tara’ Campaign: Worldoo.com, an interactive online platform for children teamed up with Akshaya Patra to help children ‘Gift a Tara’. The platform allows children to read, watch videos and more, to earn stars. These stars can be donated by the children towards an underprivileged child, converted to real money, and spent on the cause of food for education.

Kellogg’s Breakfast Campaign: Kellogg’s India launched a campaign with Akshaya Patra to spread awareness on the importance of eating breakfast. People were asked to make a pledge for the importance of eating this meal, and for every pledge a breakfast would be gifted to a child. The breakfast kits were distributed in some of the schools where Akshaya Patra serves the mid-day meals. In their kit, Kellogg’s included a 127gm pack of Kellogg’s Chocos or Kellogg’s Corn Flake, one sealed 200ml Tetrapak of milk, a bowl and spoon, and a small printed pamphlet to educate the children about the importance of breakfast. In total Kellogg’s India distributed 100,000 breakfast kits in Bangalore.

Vasudev Adiga’s ‘+ 1’ Campaign: On Children’s Day, 14 November, 2013, Vasudev Adiga’s a chain of restaurants across Karnataka started their ‘+1’ campaign where the cost of every item on the Adiga’s menu was increased by Re. 1, and the proceeds were donated to Akshaya Patra. Vasudev Adiga’s made a donation of Rs. 36.5 lakhs to The Akshaya Patra Foundation by the conclusion of the campaign.

Jackfruit365 Campaign: In this campaign, for every pack sold the Jackfruit365 team would make a donation of a sponsorship fee amounting to five mid-day meals, ask their restaurant and corporate-cafeteria partners to donate towards one mid-day meal for every meal they serve with Jackfruit365, and ask their well-wishers to donate generously towards The Akshaya Patra Foundation, and help provide food for education to children in need.

Aside from these, Akshaya Patra has been fortunate to partner with numerous other influential organisations like Infosys, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), Jamsetji Tata Trust, Cisco, GE Healthcare, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), The Hans Foundation, Union Bank, SBI Mutual Fund, Corporation Bank, and many others as part of their CSR programmes.

Undertakings like these have been instrumental in our fight to #EndClassroomHunger in India. Through these and many other CSR activities, Akshaya Patra has been able to share in the drive and determination of inspiring organisations to improve the welfare of less fortunate children in society.

Happy birthday, dear reader!

So where’s the party going to be? We simply love birthdays! There’s such an air of excitement – of the gifts you will receive, the heartfelt wishes that make your day, the big or small bash you’d share with your loved ones – each moment of the day is special. This year, we’d like to make a small suggestion to make your day a little extra special.

Give a return gift to a child who is #HungryForSchool.

There are millions of children in India who do not go to school, as they work to earn their daily meal. At Akshaya Patra, we give them a ticket out of this vicious cycle. We provide them with a hearty lunch at school. Does it work? There has been a spike of 28 per cent in enrolments this year, and it is directly attributed to the food we serve.

So how much does it take to feed a child who is #HungryForSchool? Rs. 750 is enough to feed one child for a whole academic year. We ask you to make a small contribution on your big day, and make a huge difference to a child’s future. This year, have a blast, or have a quiet party, but share a slice of your joy with a child who is #HungryForSchool. Give him/her a return gift of Rs. 750.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation was visited by a very distinguished guest on 16 July, 2014! Former US President Bill Clinton, accompanied by Gururaj Deshpande, Abhay Jain and 25 delegates, stopped by the Akshaya Patra kitchen at Jaipur during his visit to India.

The kitchen is a part of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) commitment between the Deshpande Foundation, Ravindra Chamaria and the Government of India made in 2008, to provide $7 million dollars toward scaling up the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal programme.

At the kitchen Mr Clinton was taken through the operations process and shown how the kitchen produces 250,000 rotis (Indian flat bread), 6 tonnes of dal (lentils) and 5 tonnes of rice on every school day, in just three hours!

Clinton with his delegation spent an hour touring the kitchen and then visited the nearby Government Praveshika Sanskrit Vidhyalaya (Government Secondary Sanskrit School) at Sanganer where he received a warm welcome by the students. He helped serve the mid-day meal to the children, and spent some time interacting with them.

Impressed with the work undertaken by the organisation Clinton said, “I want to thank all of the students and teachers for the warm welcome. Cooking and distribution of food is a commendable effort and this is a remarkable partnership between the government, private sector business community and non-government organisation. Such a huge quantity of food prepared and served in efficient, healthy and sanitary manner is unbelievable.”

Clinton saw firsthand the impact of what good nutrition can do for the cognitive development of children. He and his delegates were amazed to see two tenth standard students from the school solving a complex mathematical calculation using the Nikhilam method of Vedic Maths, completing it even before even Deshpande could finish on his calculator. So impressed was he with their skill that Clinton asked Akshaya Patra to contact his Foundation for any assistance needed with their education in the future.

Explaining why the mid-day meal programme is so important to him, Clinton says, “I think that one of the great challenges of the 21st century everywhere, is to prove that we can create an inclusive democracy. And that’s not just political inclusion but economic and social inclusion. The programme we visited today is one that has been a big part of my Clinton Global Initiative. We try to raise more and more money for it. I think these sort of feeding programmes are very often overlooked by the political system and yet they have the greatest potential to do good. If I can help galvanize action [toward the cause] it actually saves lives and creates a whole different set of futures for these children.”

The Clinton Foundation under the CGI helps raise awareness and funding for Akshaya Patra from corporates and other agencies to help the organisation run the mid-day meal programme. “This is the finest commitment made by the Clinton Foundation in its 10 years of existence. It is wonderful,” said Clinton, eager for more organisations to support the programme.

Clinton also thanked Caterpillar Foundation for their donation of $2 million toward Akshaya Patra that will be used to feed another 100,000 children in Lucknow.

Clinton’s visit to The Akshaya Patra Foundation marks a proud moment in history for the organisation and we look forward to welcoming him back to India soon. In the meantime we wish the Clinton Global Initiative all the very best in their endeavours for the future.

Information sourced from: The Clinton Foundation, The Times of India, Deccan Herald, The Hindu, and NDTV.

A student duo from a business school in Bangalore recently visited an Akshaya Patra Kitchen and a Government School where the Foundation provides mid-day meals to student. Here is an account of their experience as volunteers for the organisation.

First things first, we would like to thank you for the opportunity to work in a place that has provided us with a glimpse on the challenges faced by low income households of the society and the current education system in our country among the underprivileged. It has also changed our perspective on how nutrition can play a major role in every child’s life.

Here are some of the insights that we gathered while understanding the operations at Akshaya Patra. The visit to the kitchen was indeed a memorable one. We were happy to see that the food prepared in the kitchen was of highest quality, hygienic, nutritious and cooked with immense care. The kitchen was none like we have seen before, the cleanliness and the detail to hygiene while preparing the food was amazing, to say the least. We would like to specially thank the facilitator of the visit to the kitchen who gave us a very detailed tour regarding the kitchen and its operations. Being management students, this was like an education tour as well, where we could witness few of the concepts that we are taught at the Business School.

At the Government High School, Sarakki, where we taught children for three weeks, we were able to better understand how students were benefited by the mid-day meal programme implemented by The Akshaya Patra Foundation. The survey on food quality revealed that a majority of the students was highly satisfied with the food provided to them for lunch. They even went on to state that it tasted better than the food prepared at home. Most of the students were happy that the food was cost-free for them and some confirmed that they attended school just because the afternoon meal was served. This goes on to show how much the mid-day meal program has helped these students to get an education. Kudos to Akshaya Patra!

As a suggestion, we would recommend that any new volunteers coming to Akshaya Patra should get involved with the field activities at the schools. True learning and value addition, we believe would come only at Government Schools. As the volunteers get exposed to the struggles these students face, they would definitely make a difference in whatever little ways possible by them.

Lastly, we would like to thank the school for being very comforting and tending to our needs. We wish Akshaya Patra the very best for the future and hope it continues to serve children and help change lives of the deprived.

With regards,
Vishak EB and Sampath S
PGDM students at Xavier’s Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship, Bangalore
27-Jan-14

The Akshaya Patra Foundation has always welcomed individuals who are keen on understanding our cause better and working with us. College students are often encouraged to intern with us and write blogs about their experiences. In May, 2014, one such student, Surupasree Sarmmah approached Akshaya Patra with a request to do an internship. She is a student of Media Studies from one of the most reputable colleges in Bangalore. Teeming with enthusiasm and creative ideas, here is Surupasree’s take on her time spent with The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

So it began with a phone call…

It was about 10 a.m. on 01 April, 2014 when I received a call from the Human Resource (HR) department of The Akshaya Patra Foundation. They called me to confirm a formal interview after receiving my mail regarding the summer internship at an NGO as a part of my academic course. After the interview, the HR Executive introduced me to the Manager of the Communications Department. I was very excited to get this opportunity with the organisation as I always wanted to work in a place that works for children, an organisation where I can share my time and knowledge for a cause that will help improve the place we belong to.

The very first day, my mentor and I sat together and formulated a plan for the entire internship. This was done in order to make work easy and systematic for me as I was new to the Department and had limited knowledge about the work. Since it was the first day, my mentor also helped me establish a cordial rapport with other team members of the Department. This initiation turned out to be very helpful during the entire tenure of my internship. I spent my first day by gathering basic know-how about the Foundation and its work. The next day onwards I started working according to the proposed plan.

Here is an overview of the charted plan. The plan was divided into two categories: content and creative. Under ‘content’ category, I had to submit four blog articles—one blog per week. These blogs were the account of my experiences during two school visits and one kitchen visit, and of the overall experience. Under the ‘creative’ category, I had to come up with an audio-visual feature with the element of novelty that can be used as a tool for online campaigns by the Foundation. For this I made a photo essay video.

The most memorable moments of my internship were the school and kitchen visits. It was amazing to see how millions of children are benefitted by the noble work of the Foundation. The direct impact of food and learning could be seen in children of the Government schools. It was indeed a pleasure to spend time with these kids who dare to dream big despite all odds.

They are enthusiastic, determined, creative and always willing to learn something new. They dream and wish that when they grow up they would help their parents to live a comfortable life. The two visits to the Akshaya Patra beneficiary schools were very encouraging. The students taught me to view life differently and to take everything positively. They also taught me not to worry about the things that we don’t have, instead to set a goal to achieve it. I got along with the kids quite fast and was glad to have shared some light moments with them by interacting, playing and posing for photographs.

My next visit was to the Foundation’s kitchen. There are two centralised kitchens in Bangalore, one is in Rajajinagar which feeds over 90,000 children and the other is in Vasanthpura which caters to about a lakh children. Apart from catering to Government schools, the Vasanthpura kitchen also caters to runaway children, drought affected areas and old age homes. Of the two kitchens, I visited the Vasanthpura Kitchen. My interaction with the kitchen staff gave an insight to how this humongous process functions. It was a wonderful experience to see how the kitchen operates 320 days a year to feed children with the most nutritious food.

On April 19 and 20, 2014, the Foundation organised a photo exhibition at Chitrakala Parishath, one of the prestigious art institutes in Bangalore. During the internship I attended the event and report my experience. This exhibition was a great success with over 200 people visiting us. This was a great learning experience on how a big event like this is organised in a calm and composed manner.

As an intern, I never felt overlooked at any point of time. Everyone at The Akshaya Patra Foundation is friendly, helpful and hopeful. They treated me like one among them and encouraged me to explore more. They offered me a platform to be independent and take up initiatives and tasks like that of a regular Akshaya Patra employee. An encouraging aspect of my tenure was that my suggestions and ideas were given equal consideration as those of any other team member and there was no ground for bias. I observed that this place is a perfect balance of work and leisure time. The most loved moment at the organisation was the lunch hour when everyone comes together and relishes the food the Foundation provides. The best part is the employees get to taste the same food that is prepared for the beneficiary schools.

Truly, I have enjoyed working with the Foundation. These 30 days of internship in this whole new world of hope, determination and courage to do something for the betterment of the society has instilled in me much more positivity and a sense of never to lose hope and of continuing to do good work for the place we live in to make it pleasant for everyone.