Disaster always calls for urgent measures. At times like this the country stands up to support those stricken by the tragedy and often support pours in from all corners. On the other hand, this is also a time, when people want to help but don’t know how or where to contribute and help. A fair section of those who give at this time end up getting disappointed, as they never hear about what happened to their money. That’s where organizations like ours step in to make a difference.
It is mid-noon on a warm Thursday and a blue bus can be seen winding its way through ceaseless Bangalore city traffic to Tasker Town, a bustling area in the heart of the metropolitan. The bus comes to a stop outside the colonial style building of Govt. Telugu High School as children rush out into the commotion of the city to greet its arrival. Two men, dressed in blue, jump out to unload its eagerly awaited contents: glistening steel containers filled with delicious rice and sambar, the Southern Indian staple food.
Everyday, at around 12 o’clock, Akshaya Patra’s blue bus arrives at the school delivering freshly cooked food for its more than 160 students. Everyday, it is greeted with the same enthusiastic smiles.
For Kenny and Erica Jones, however, this no everyday experience. Though the couple from America has travelled the world for years and been living in India for nearly 15 months now, they have never witnessed anything like this before. “It’s something else to see it in action,” says Erica, who came to fully understand Akshaya Patra’s work at a Search Marketing Summit held by the children’s non-profit, where industry leaders from around the world met to discuss the latest techniques and trends in internet marketing. Erica, one of the guest speakers at the Summit, with special expertise in video marketing, says she was amazed by the scale of the Foundation’s operations. “You feed lunch to more than 1.2 million hungry children around India. And I can’t believe you do it everyday!” she adds.
Kenny, who hosts the wildly popular ‘On Air with Kenny Jones’ morning show on Radio Indigo 91.9 FM, one of the leading English radio stations in the country, is surprised at how little it takes to actually feed a child for year. “Is it just US $11.50 did you say to sponsor a child for a year? Wow, that’s incredible,” he says.
As 12:30 approaches, a palpable restlessness permeates the classrooms. Outside, selected 7th standard students, the eldest in the school, are preparing for lunch time. They set the containers of rice, sambar and curd on a wooden bench in the cool shade of a tree in the school yard. They rinse the serving spoons and plates in preparation for meal time.
The lunch bell rings as students file outside in neat rows under the strict supervision of their Headmistress, Ms. Kusum.
“Many of the children come here from very distant areas in the city and they leave home early morning, a lot of times without any breakfast,” she says, “for them, this food is very essential. Sometimes both parents will be working and they don’t have time to prepare a meal in the morning. There is one boy here who is being raised by a single parent. If his mother falls ill, then it becomes very difficult for him to eat food. Who will cook? The average salary she may get for a month is around Rs. 1000, but in Bangalore it costs at least around Rs. 100 for a family to eat for a day. It becomes very difficult for people to make ends meet.”
However, the overall change has been positive over the years, says the headmistress. More children are attending school regularly and fewer are dropping out. “There are many opportunities these days that were not there before. To tell you the truth, these children are very bright and talented. They just need to be guided and helped in the right direction. That’s where schemes like the mid-day meal program are very helpful,” she adds.
The mid-day meal program was initiated by all State Governments of India in response to an order from the nation’s Supreme Court in November of 2001, which mandated that children in all government and government-aided primary schools across the country be provided with freshly cooked nutrition meals at lunch time. Today there are over 121 million children around the nation who are benefitting from the scheme, making it by far the largest such nutrition program in the world. The Akshaya Patra Foundation, which is in a public-private partnership with 8 State Governments to provide children with healthy, freshly cooked meals, directly impacts 1.2 million of them. The Foundation is currently in the 11th year of program implementation and has a mission to reach out to 5 million children by 2020. A quiet settles in the school yard as the students sit down to their mid-day meal. For these children at Govt. Telugu High School, the food provided means more than just a full stomach. It means they can concentrate on their afternoon classes free from the clutches of hunger; that even if they skipped breakfast, they can rest assured that at least in school, they will get one full meal.
For Kenny and Erica, it is another memorable experience on their travels around the world that they will always remember. “It is wonderful to see such good work,” says Erica.
On a sunny morning of Sunday, a community of bloggers from the city of joy woke up to gather around for a cause. A cause focused at feeding 5 million under-privileged children by the end of this decade. Over 100 bloggers from Kolkata and around trickled in to support Akshaya Patra Foundation, the world’s largest NGO-run school mid day meal programme in continuing their magical endeavour of feeding almost 1.3 million kids across 18 locations in India. An initial attempt by this community of internet enthusiasts was to put their voice into words, not by typing on a computer screen, but by using spray paint onto a huge plain white graffiti board placed on the stage. One of the messages, loud and clear was “Get them out of jobs… Get them into schools”. The gathering consisted of bloggers from diversified fields. Some wrote personal blogs while the others focused on technical developments. A few others seemed to have passion in art and literature. However each one present had a common fervor…a common cause to support Akshaya Patra and help the foundation to reach out and fight hunger and poverty.
IndiBlogger.In, a community of 25,000 Indian bloggers spread across the world, brought together over 100 members of their community. A huge contribution concealed in a non-contemporary fashion as the core objective of IndiBlogger.In is to understand, measure and promote the Indian blogging culture and thereby bringing the community to blog for a noble cause.
Click here to view the Photo Gallery of Akshaya Patra Indiblogger meet in Kolkata
The platform for the Indiblogger meet in Kolkata was firmly set by Infinity Infotech Parks Ltd, a collaboration of great minds who have helped Akshaya Patra in walking an extra mile in the journey so far. Mr. Pulak Chamaria, President and Executive Director of Infinity graced the occasion with his presence. “Communities such as these coming together to support the vision of Akshaya Patra Foundation is overwhelming” he said. Mr. Suparno Moitra, Regional Manager, NASSCOM, who has been a well-wisher of Akshaya Patra also spoke on the occasion and said “It is each one of our responsibility to go back home and get at least 2 supporters for Akshaya Patra which would help in increasing the supporter base for Akshaya Patra”.
An inspiring video of a speech delivered by Mr. N R Narayan Murthy, Founder-Chairman of Infosys Technologies Ltd engaged the audience and provided them with more insight about the Foundation. Interactive activities as a part of the half-day event encouraged several bloggers to be enthusiastic of volunteering for Akshaya Patra. “I am very excited about volunteering for Akshaya Patra. I would go back home and write blogs about the good work being done by the foundation” said one of the bloggers who attended the meet.
The event concluded with a flavor of music revolving around children by ‘Five Little Indians’ a popular rock band in Kolkata.
Though unemployed, a number of teenagers have a good amount of money at their disposal. With Video games, chocolates, branded sneakers and other a million things available to spend it on, their money soon finds its way out of their pockets. However for 15-year-old Maithreya Sitaraman the case is different. A 10th grade student in Bangalore International School, Maithreya collects his pocket money and contributes it voluntarily to the Akshaya Patra Foundation, the world’s largest NGO-run school mid day meal programme. Over the past three years he has donated close to Rs.50, 000, which has helped the foundation increase its beneficiary base.
“There is nothing unusual about what it. All I do is accumulate money given by my grand parents and other relatives and give it to feed lunch in schools,” he says.
When asked why he chose to do so, Maithreya explains that he was astounded by the fact that it takes just a little more than Rs.500 to feed a child for a whole year. He heard his parents talk about this in the living room.
Maithreya’s volunteering act doesn’t stop at donating money. He has taken it a step further. During his vacations, he has done a comprehensive research and submitted a report on identifying suitable locations to fight malnutrition so that Akshaya Patra can choose to function in an area where there can be greatest impact.
“With the help of this report, Akshaya Patra can expand their operations to Maharashtra, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh…” he says while explaining the proposal.
At an age where video games, football and television sitcoms are supposed to be all the craze, Maithreya thoughtfulness has made a truly meaningful impact on society. And he’s given a whole new meaning to pocket money.
The Kennametal Foundation has joined hands with the Akshaya Patra Foundation to support our vision “no child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.”
As a part of the contribution, a cheque for $4,000 was handed over by Sri.Santanoo Medhi, Managing Director, Kennametal to Sri. Sridhar Venkat, Executive Director, Akshaya Patra Foundation here on Wednesday at Govt. Model Primary School ManjuntahNagar.
Addressing the school children Sri.Santanoo Medhi said, “I too come from a similar school, we dint have desks to sit. But it doesn’t matter which school you study in, it’s all about how you study, how you develop as a good citizen, above all how you groom yourself as a good human being. I wish you all great success and would like to see some of you working in Kenna Metal.”
“We are happy to join hands with Kennametal Foundation for the upliftment of our children who are the future of our country,” said Sri. Sridhar Venkat.
Sri.Vikram Chopra, Sri.Charada Sekhar Sharma and Sri. Calvin Printer representing Kennametal Foundation was also present.
A huge smile spread across Yogitha’s face as she put the phone’s receiver down. She had been talking to a prospective donor who had confirmed to her that he was more than willing to donate a considerable amount to Akshaya Patra’s noble cause. The smile at the end of the call was the highlight because it seemed like the after-effect of Yogitha’s conversation was similar at the other end of the line as well. Yogitha, a fundraiser, is part of the foundation’s tele-marketing team.
With more than 200 million middle-class citizens in the country, India has opened a wider avenue for our fundraisers to not only follow traditional methods of fundraising activities but also innovate and work on new techniques for the same.
One such initiative in Akshaya Patra is the tele-marketing team. The model which was implemented more than a year ago has rapidly expanded to a strength of 70 employees, with about 70% of it outsourced. The in-house tele-marketing team consists of close to 15 members with an upsizing plan underway. Trained on tele-marketing techniques, the team is quite different from a tele-marketing agent who would call you to sell credit cards or insurance because Akshaya Patra is not selling anything. The sole objective of Yogitha and her other colleagues is to educate public about the foundation and its noble cause and also provide them with a gateway, should they have plans to donate.
Sufficient training is provided on regular intervals to ensure that the team is well aware of their basics. Their language is analytical in nature, which many a times, is a motivation for donors to hit the ‘call for action’ button. There are times when some of them would not like to be disturbed. The team pushes hard to minimize such instances by maintaining a ‘Do not call” list.
There are also instances where our team gets included in the donors emotional circle. For instance, Yogitha once called a lady who narrated the tragic story of her husband’s death. Her husband had a strong bond with Akshaya Patra and had been donating for the Foundation’s noble cause since its beginning . The lady, with tears in her eyes, had told Yogitha that she would want to continue the same on her husband’s behalf.
Saanil, the head of the Analytics and BPO initiative at Akshaya Patra, has been overlooking this model since its inception. Keeping himself up-to-date with the latest in tele-marketing initiatives, he says “The purpose of setting up this model is to keep the society at large informed about the children of our country and the help they need. This also serves as a platform for supporters to find an easy gateway to help us”. He also talks about the employment opportunity, for about 70 people, the telemarketing model has paved way for.
The tele-marketing initiative, today, is scaling heights by reaching up to 15 Lakh people every year. This could not have been achieved without the significant contribution to the process from external partners. Kankei Relationship Marketing in Bangalore and Hyderabad, Transact Global in Bangalore and BNKe Solutions in Kolkata have provided phenomenal support in spreading Akshaya Patra’s word. With this enormous reach, Akshaya Patra has become the first and the only organization to have expanded so rapidly in the development sector.
VISAKHAPATNAM: Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), Visakhapatnam, has provided a customised mobile van to Akshaya Patra Foundation for distribution of free mid-day meal to government school children at a cost of Rs. 11.20 lakhs as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative.
Executive Director of GAIL P.K. Jain handed over the keys of the mobile van to the foundation representatives at a function held in the city recently. DGM (O&M), GAIL, U.P. Bhagat, and other executives were present. Head of the Visakhapatnam Division of Akshaya Patra Foundation Niskinchana Bhakta Dasa said that some 5,500 school children were being covered under the mid-day meal programme at present. The addition of the mobile van would help in taking the number to over 10,000 children.
The vehicle was designed in such a way that the food would remain hot for eight hours till distribution to the school children. He thanked GAIL for associating itself in the noble cause, which would go a long way in reducing the dropout rate in schools, besides preventing malnutrition among schoolchildren.
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Olive is an award winning chain of specialty restaurants with presence in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. It has found a cause worthy of its support in Akshaya Patra’s mission.
Mr. A D Singh , the Managing Director and Chef Manu Chandra generously offered to host a select few friends of Akshaya Patra for dinner on 25th January, Tuesday at Olive, Mahalaxmi.
The evening also marked the soft launch of Akshaya Nidhi, a school midday meal adoption initiative.
Akshaya Patra is grateful for the support and hospitality. Thank you Olive.
The pen is mightier than the sword, as they say, and this New Year The Akshaya Patra Foundation in conjunction with Indiblogger.in, the largest online community in India for bloggers, proved just that. On Sunday, the 9th of January, Akshaya Patra and Indiblogger hosted a meet in Bangalore, where bloggers from across the nation came together for a common purpose: to explore the power of online media for the greater good of society.
The event was the culmination of a month long competition held by Akshaya Patra on the Indiblogger platform, where bloggers could write about the mid-day meal program and the impact it has had on children. Two bloggers with the best entries in the competition would then win a trip to Jaipur.
The online phenomenon resulted in over one hundred bloggers across India sharing their thoughts, ideas, beliefs and experiences to promote the vision of the Foundation, that ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.’
“I did not know the importance of food, till I moved out of my house…” writes one blogger, Richa Sharma from New Delhi, going on to explain how the simple gesture of giving food to hungry children on her way to work brought immense satisfaction. “I eventually changed my office and never even once bothered [about] what happened to those tiny dancing souls…”, she adds.“Then one day I got a mail from HR that some NGO is visiting our office and [asking] if we could attend their presentation. It was an institution that had something to do with providing lunches to children so as to instigate them to come to schools. And as I read the introductory mail, I was reminded of my little friends and a thought struck me, “what if i told them to come to school everyday and that they will get a good meal there, will they come?” And the answer was a definite Yes. And then I knew that Akshaya Patra has caught the right chord.”
Many topics were discussed and highlighted during the event, which the bloggers participated in with high energy and enthusiasm. One of the major challenges faced by the development sector is raising awareness for the work being done. A non-profit’s meager financial resources often pose a serious limitation on their capacity to reach out to the public.
“There are crores of children in our country facing this problem,” said Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman of Akshaya Patra. “Each person’s situation may be different in life, but there is one place where we should have equality, and that is food.” Compounding this problem is the reluctance on the part of traditional media to champion a specific charitable cause.
“We are the largest NGO in the world to conduct the mid-day meal program, but our own country doesn’t know about us,” said Shridhar Venkat, Executive Director of Akshaya Patra. “The biggest gift you can give us is communication,” he went on to add.
It was with this regard to raising awareness that the synergy of individuals made the greatest difference. According to Anoop Johnson, Co-founder, Indiblogger.in, “It has given bloggers a purpose and brought about focused content on a particular issue, which is incredible to see.”
The blogger’s meet was the first full fledged program of its kind held by the online community to focus on a social cause.
Perhaps the most satisfactory outcome of the day was the overwhelming response of writers to the idea of blogging for a cause. It gave people an opportunity to become a part of a social movement that is slowly bringing about significant change in India. (Today, the mid-day meal program has over 121 million children benefitting from the scheme, with Akshaya Patra directly impacting 1.2 million of them.)
By creating a platform for people to air their views and opinions, the blogger’s meet tapped into the most influential source for change: the power of the individual voice.
Hanume appears to be a born leader as he directs and aids his classmates around the metal shop. Like any twenty-something pursuing his studies, he has many aspirations in life. Currently in his second and final year at the Technical Training Center for Deaf in Bangalore, Hanume plans to get a job after his course completion and become an earning member of his family. As the eldest and only son, his responsibilities are many. Though his father is a farmer in the mainly agricultural district of Mandya, in Karnataka, Hanume hopes to work with computers to support his family. After finishing the second year, he wants to train further in the subject and work in the IT industry.
Stories like his have echoed through the silent classrooms of the training institute for nearly 25 years. Hearing impaired children from across India come to this Center for the Deaf to receive the National Trade Certificate that will give them employment opportunities. Many previous students, like Y.L. Harsha are already placed in some of the leading companies of the country. His younger brother, Jagadish, is also training at the institute now and hopes to follow in his brother’s footsteps.
Currently there are over 80 students at the Center, which faces many challenges in its day to day operations. As Mrs. Gloria William, Managing Trustee explains, funds are not always adequate to meet the institute’s requirements. Some students find it especially difficult staying in a temporary hostel on the premises. Food is often an area of concern.
“We came up with a makeshift hostel arrangement out of need. Some students didn’t have the finances for accommodation outside, so we decided to provide them with a place to stay. But the children still have to manage their own food,” she says. One aspect of her worries for the Institute is now resolved. Starting this 27th of December, Akshaya Patra, with the support of ABB, a leader in power and automation technologies, will be providing mid-day meals at the Institute on a regular basis. The meals will be particularly helpful for those students who are currently staying at the hostel.
“We have two shifts in the school: one which starts at 8:30 a.m. for the second years, and another which starts at 10:00 in the morning for the first years. Many of these children come to school early, often without breakfast, so this one meal will be extremely helpful,” says Mrs. William.
