General

Baran– a remote corner of Rajasthan- where the people are denied of even the basic amenities of life, Akshaya Patra reaches out to 20,200 underprivileged children with the nutritious unlimited food through their decentralized kitchen. You must be wondering what this decentralized kitchen is.

Decentralized kitchens are those kitchens of Akshaya Patra where the operations are carried out manually involving the local population of the vicinity. Thus the Akshaya Patra not only feeds the children there but also provides employment opportunities to the women folk of that region.

They form a self help group of women who cooks the meal for their own children who goes to the school and in turn earn financial self sufficiency.

 What can be more tasty and nutritious than the food cooked by our mothers? 

Humming bird Corporate Travel and Stay Solution was started in 2005 to partner with corporate to help them reduce their travel & stay costs by offering a superior alternative to expensive hotels. For their pioneering work and growth they were awarded CNBC Emerging India Award 09.Despite being a startup they have also set a good example as to how corporate entities can be part of societal development. Humming bird has consistently taken part in Akshaya Patra’s efforts to curb hunger among school children by sponsoring food for 38 children every month. Akshaya Patra has grown into a mammoth organization feeding more than 1.2 million children through such gestures of kindness from various corporate.

You can learn more about Humming bird here – http://www.hummingbirdindia.com

We hope many more organizations follow suit and help in taking Akshaya Patra’s efforts forward. We believe in the power of collaborative effort in reaching out to thousands of children across India who is in dire need of help. We harness the potential of companies for the benefit of children by leveraging the unique skills of a company in favour of the ‘food for education’ initiative.

Recently wall street journal covered an article by Arun, a 2nd year PGP student at IIM Ahmedabad aboutConfluence 2009 in IIM Ahmedabad.

Sustainability, topic which has gained immense importance in recent yearswas further explored at the Confluence. Shri Chanchalapati Dasa, the vice chairman of Akshaya Patra Foundation represented Akshaya Patra Foundation.

Equity is one of the important facets of sustainability. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a leading NGO pioneering the mid-day meal programme in many schools across India. Currently their programme feeds more than 1.1 million children and is supported by many leading industries. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Chanchalapati Dasa, the vice chairman of Akshaya Patra Foundation, said that with India being home to 40% of the world’s malnourished children, making education feasible for under privileged students through mid-day meal schemes helps in a big way in poverty alleviation. The success of the foundation has many other lessons to be learnt for management professionals. Their network consisting of highly automated kitchens cooking food and then distributing across distant schools is something which even the Harvard has written a case about.

Click here to know more about the Confluence 2009 in IIM Ahmedabad read WSJ article.

Madhu Pandit Dasa, our chairman, believes that without the untiring efforts of all the stakeholders that make up The Akshaya Patra Foundation, we would be able to reach out to so many children today.

“The staff and workers from the Foundation, our well wishers, donors, Trustees and Advisory Board Members, the Union and State Government, our political leaders and concerned citizens are all to thank for this phenomenal growth.”

He expressed his firm belief that we will need the continued support of our well-wishers if we are to scale up our efforts to reach out to more children.

“We need your seek your help to ensure that every child in India is well nourished, well educated and fully empowered to realize his/her potential.”

Madhu Pandit Dasa, our chairman, looked back on ten years of The Akshaya Patra Foundation:

“One thing is certain from this experience: there is boundless compassion in this world. We must involve more and more willing human hearts. I wish to see many more people come forward to help those less fortunate. There are millions of children around the globe in need of their support. Their smiles will transform our lives.”

Entusiastic volunteers who are part of the Information technology sector came together on a rainy Saturday to decode the internet for Akshaya Patra. Volunteers who attended ‘Code for a Cause’, an event which aimed to help non-profits get the best out of internet, walked into JAAGA in Bangalore around 11 am. After a few minutes of meeting and greeting, the event started off with Mr. Shridhar Venkat, the executive director of the Akshaya patra foundation addressing the volunteers. He spoke to them about how non-profits like Akshayapatra realize the importance of establishing a strong internet presence. Prarthana Unkaikar, who heads the i-volunteer centres spoke about the importance of dedicated volunteers in the charity scenario in India. She shared her experiences about interacting with various volunteers from across the country.

After giving them an initial picture about volunteering and the need for technology in the development sector, the volunteers were treated to the hot lunch served by Akshayapatra to millions of children every day. “You can also extend support virtually by voicing your opinion on your blogs”, said blogger Mohan.B.N, who addressed the volunteers post lunch. Incidentally, Mohan was also the winner of Akshaya Patra’s ‘Blog and Feed’ contest held early this year. “You should visit the kitchens to understand Akshaya Patra’s scale of work”, said Mohan while he recollected his visit to Akshaya Patra’s Jaipur kitchen which was the prize for writing the best blog entry. Mr. Jagdish Vashishta, the co-founder of Kinetic glue, narrated some interesting examples to stress upon the usage of social media by organizations. The volunteers were then divided into 2 teams and asked to discuss various strategies for improving Akshaya Patra’s presence. The teams got down to serious thinking and as a result, various new ideas started flowing. We hope to have more such events in the future and expect the participation of such enthusiastic volunteers.

AAP KI RASOI, a noble initiative of the Akshaya Patra Foundation, has come to the rescue of thousands of people affected by floods in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. AAP KI RASOI program under ‘Bhagidari scheme’ has come forward for providing free meals to the flood affected victims.

On Wednesday more than 200 people were evacuated from the banks of the Yamuna in the capital as the water level in the river touched an alarming level of 205.70 metres. With this, a total of over 1,500 people have been shifted to around 160 relief camps set up by the government. The river had crossed the danger level of 204.83 metres last week following heavy and continuous rains.

On 25th August, the foundation provided 350 meals to victims at the Yamuna bazaar and Jagatpura Village. The administration, being pleased by the quantity and quality of food supplied, requested Akshaya Patra Foundation to thereby continue to provide 1000 free meals to the affected. The foundation has promptly responded and has started supplying 1050 hot cooked meals to the affected areas including Burari Pump House and Vijay Ghat.

Heavy rains continued in the capital till noon on Tuesday, making it the fifth consecutive day of heavy rainfall. Several low-lying residential areas along the Yamuna riverbank were flooded.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is the largest NGO serving school meals (mid-day meals) in government run schools of India. The behemoth program is a strategic intervention in education which today serves nutritious mid-day meals to about 12,28,580 school children in 18 locations in 8 states in the country.
The Akshaya Patra Foundation also provides free mid-day meals to the destitute population in NCTof Delhi.

It needs no introduction. An entry into Limca Book of World Records; appreciation from none other than US President Barack Obama and its work as a case study at Harvard University! The latest addition to its achievements — churning out 40,000 rotis for children in just one hour.

Akshaya Patra Foundation, which runs the world’s largest school-meal programme, has improved its kitchen services by increasing the number of rotis produced to meet the requirement of children. The ‘roti machine’, which was first introduced in 2004 in Brindavan, had a massive task ahead of them. The foundation, which reaches 11.86 lakh children across the country, had made thousands of rotis for kids in North India.
“In that part of the country, children asked for rotis instead of rice. And preparing so many rotis requires more manpower. So we bought the unique machine,” said Vyomapada Das, who is looking after the kitchen at Bhilai.

HUNT ON FOR BETTER MACHINE
After Das and his colleague found that the roti-making machine in Amritsar was expensive, they decided to hunt for a similar machine at a reasonable rate. Luckily, they came across a person who could make ‘desi’ style rotis. After negotiation, they paid  Rs.12 lakh for it.

But there was a problem. The machine produced 10,000 rotis per hour while the requirement was to feed 5,000 children. “We tried to solve the problem, and we found out we needed six such machines within a space of 10,000 sqft. It would cost us between Rs 60-70 lakh,” said Narasimha Das, who is in charge of Brindavan kitchen.

When the team contacted the same machine supplier, the latter couldn’t improve the production count. “Then we contacted companies in the US and Holland. A firm in Holland suggested to increase the width of the oven from 0.9 m to 1.2 m and to increase the speed to 12 m per minute. The oven portion was also extended so that rotis can be fully cooked,” said Narasimha Das.

Click here to read the whole article

Yesterday, on the last day of May, the new employees of Akshaya Patra had an induction, or rather an introduction to the Foundation.
“Akshaya Patra is not just an NGO, it is a movement,” with these motivational words, Mr Nagabhushan, the head of Human Resources, began the induction.

As we sat through the pleasant summer afternoon, we learnt about all the details of the new place we would now be working in. Akshaya Patra, an NGO in Bangalore that has grown from a small pilot program to one of the largest non-profits in the world, is now rapidly expanding across India in the hopes of reaching out to 5 million children by 2020. What may be considered as a rather ambitious goal is thought of as an achievable reality by Akshaya Patra. After all, the organization has nearly 10 years of experience to back it up. A decade of selfless dedication and 1.2 million smiling children are proof of the work done.

“In the last ten years, there has not been a single day when the meal was not served,” said Mr. Shridhar Venkat, the Executive Director of the Foundation. He encouraged us to visit the schools where our program was being conducted.

“If you go there, you will see there are people who have become engineers, lawyers, teachers, who used to have the food we provide. That is the power of one meal.” The Foundation aimed, at large, to impact the nation in a positive and profound way.
“We want to see the country, especially our children, hunger free,” he emphasized.

He asked us to share our own desires and expectations from the organization. While many were honest enough to admit they only wished for a good compensation, others shared their own vision for the organization.
“I want to see Akshaya Patra reach out to every village in India,” said one of the newer members of the team.

“I want us to keep doing what we do,” said another.

Pleased with what he had heard, and happy to see that the new people coming into the Foundation were not only honest, but also dedicated, Mr Venkat left us with these words:

“If you want to do anything good, first believe in it. Be in the place where the action happens.”