At The Akshaya Patra Foundation, we envision an India where ‘No child shall be deprived of education because of hunger’. With a belief that feeding the hungry is a social responsibility, we ensure that no matter what, children get access to hot and nutritious food every day. We work on a Private Public Partnership (PPP) model with the Government of India and our corporate donors to have a cascading effect on the nation’s progress towards Zero Hunger.

Akshaya Patra’s kitchens are dubbed as the world’s largest kitchens preparing midday meals for more than 1.8 million children across the country. With its 59 centralised and 2 decentralised kitchens, the Foundation’s service towards the mid-day meal programme is well-known.

These kitchens use gravity’s potential energy for the cooking process, a method known as the ‘gravity-flow mechanism’. They are the country’s most advanced centralised kitchens, with over lakhs of meals cooked in less than 5 hours every day for children in government and government-aided schools. Akshaya Patra kitchens are noted for their efficiency and effectiveness, thanks to the use of innovative technology. Every morning, operations begin at 4 am, and hot meals are ready to be served by 8am. The centralised cooking facilities are planned and developed to ensure the highest level of quality while reducing cost, time, and labour.

Every school day, a specialised fleet of cutting-edge food delivery vans navigate kilometres to ensure that students get their much-needed lunch on time. The Akshaya Patra Foundation has customised its delivery vehicles with insulated bodies and honeycomb constructed racks to carry containers. This ensures that hot and fresh food reaches schools, with no spillage during transportation, every day. The specially built vehicle is dust-free, insulated to preserve the ideal temperature of 65℃ approximately, and aids in the preservation of the meals’ freshness.

All the kitchen employees of Akshaya Patra put in all of their hard work to ensure that children receive hot and nutritious food during their lunchtime. The kitchens start whirring early in the morning as there is a humungous task of feeding 1.8 million children every day.

One calendar year gives us several occasions to celebrate. Aside from festivals and days of national and international importance, we have our personal occasions to celebrate such as birthdays, weddings, promotions, housewarming, and the like. More often than not, we celebrate these special days with our near and dear ones. Pause here for a moment and think if there is any other way to make your occasions more special!

Celebrations with a difference
There are many unique ways to celebrate special days, and one among them is engaging in a charitable act. While you have your own wish list on how you would like to celebrate or surprise your dear one on a special occasion, adding charity to it will invariably add goodwill to your celebrations. You can share your day with the less privileged and add happiness in the life of the beneficiaries and yours too!

Celebrate with children
The Akshaya Patra Foundation gives you a platform to celebrate your special days with their beneficiary children. Currently, the Foundation provides daily nutritious meals to 18,00,907 children in 19,039 government schools and government-aided schools across 14 States and 2 Union Territories in India. You can gift a smile to these children by contributing towards their much-needed mid-day meals.

Which occasions can you celebrate with Akshaya Patra?
Akshaya Patra always encourages the thoughtful nature of adding charity to your special occasion celebrations. Below mentioned are some occasions that will serve as an example of the occasions you can celebrate with Akshaya Patra:

• Donate towards mid-day meal programme to celebrate occasions of personal importance such as birthdays, weddings, housewarming, in memory of, in honour of, promotions, new ventures, etc.
• Gift mid-day meals to feed the needy children as a part of celebrating important events at your office.
• Donate to feed children and spread happiness on festive occasions such as Diwali, Christmas, New Year, Holi etc.
• Donate individually or conduct a fundraising campaign on days of national and international importance such as Independence Day, Children’s Day, World Food Day, World NGO Day, etc.
• In fact, you can make your own special calendar day to ‘gift a smile’.
  

What’s the takeaway?
Adding charity in your celebrations is a noble way to double your happiness and add goodwill in your life. Your choice of sharing a special day has the potential to make a huge difference in the lives of the beneficiaries. For instance, when you donate towards mid-day meals to feed the needy children, you ensure accessibility to nutritious food and contribute to their health and education. To conclude, donate to NGO with all your heart because it is not only a good gesture, but also a medium to transform lives.

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