Dreams keep you moving forward and the gap between dreaming and making those dreams come true might not always be insurmountable, especially if you have support and know how to get there.
The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one such organisation that works relentlessly to end classroom hunger among underprivileged children and support them to fulfil their dreams. The NGO’s goal is to establish relationships between donors and recipients in order to share joy and grant the unfulfilled desires of children from marginalised communities through food and education.
With feeding lunch to only 1,500 children in 2000, today the NGO upholds a network of world-class kitchens that serve hot mid-day meals (MDM) to 2 million children at more than 22,367 schools in 14 Indian states and 2 union territories.
The Mid-Day Meal Programme (MDM Programme) – currently known as PM Poshan Abhiyaan, a programme to ensure that every child in every government school receives a nourishing meal every school day, is the core service under which Akshaya Patra conducts its operations.
Akshaya Patra’s goal goes beyond simply feeding underprivileged children. It has to do with societal advancement. In addition to encouraging children to attend school, the Foundation works to give them a diversified and nutrient-rich food to improve their nutritional and health status, thus encouraging them to work towards their aspirations.
By 2025, Akshaya Patra strives to serve three million kids every day. The organisation will work to improve its programmes with solutions concentrating on children’s food and nutritional security to put into practise creative ideas as an addition to welfare programmes to improve their health and well-being.
The National Endeavor for Student Transformation (NEST), a set of programmes that focus on children’s holistic development and go beyond meals, has already been introduced. Among them are the school revitalisation programme, which works to create a supportive environment for children through a variety of academic and infrastructure interventions, the Digital Education Programme to provide students with access to digital devices and world-class digital learning platform with professionally curated content and the AVSAR scholarship program, which awards financial aid to deserving students.
Our Beneficiaries
Chandrashekhar comes from a very humble background. He has five siblings and his parents are street-side vendors. He is a mid-day meal beneficiary and enjoys the food served at school. He says he is grateful that the hot meals give him the energy to study well and take part in co-curricular activities.
Currently, millions of children struggle for one square meal a day; for them education is a distant dream. These young lives wait for generosity to help them pursue an education which is their only stepping stone towards their dreams. The school meals do nothing short of a miracle in such a situation. These meals encourage families from difficult socioeconomic circumstances to take their children to school. By supporting Akshaya Patra, you can help over 2 million+ children with nutritious food and education each school day.
Support Akshaya Patra’s Government school students and empower their dreams. Donate for children!
