Healthy children grow into healthy adults
How can we ensure good health for children?

Good health comes from consuming healthy food
Since they are the adults of tomorrow, it is imperative that we feed the children so that they get the required nutrition which ensures their holistic development.

Around 40% of children in India are undernourished

Various NGOs like The Akshaya Patra Foundation are working towards reversing these numbers. By implementing the Central Government’s Mid-Day Meal Scheme, it feeds nutritious meals to children belonging to challenging socio-economic backgrounds. It works towards two causes simultaneously – food and education. It feeds unlimited food for education to 18,00,907 children studying in 19,039 Government schools and Government-aided schools. The Foundation feeds in 52 different locations spread across 12 States and 2 Union Territories of India.

To know about locations in which Akshaya Patra implements the Mid-Day Meal Programme, click here.

Children are the foundation on which lies the progress of the nation. Akshaya Patra feeds healthy meals that take care of the nutritional requirements stated by the Central Government of India for providing mid-day meals to school children.

Locally palatable meals are served to children in a cyclical order to avoid wastage of food. This means that each state prepares meals that are region-specific. For example, roti and aloo matar is served in Haryana, while bisibele bhath is served in Karnataka and pulisu curry is served in Andhra Pradesh. This initiative ensures that children also relish their food.

Here are a few stories of children who enjoy eating meals prepared by Akshaya Patra:

Mitali from Gujarat dreams of becoming a Designer

Mitali and her little sister live with her mother who stitches mattress covers. She aims to be a mattress designer and says, “I feel that by being a designer of mattresses, I would create and sell dreams.” She never misses Akshaya Patra’s meals because they are very tasty. It is very much needed for us when her mother has to leave home early in search of work.

Megha wants to become a nutritionist when she grows up

Megha was prone to falling sick very often in her childhood. Knowing the importance of healthy and nutritious meals early in her life, she says, “Even though we go to school empty stomach, we come back home with tummy-filled happiness as Akshaya Patra serves unlimited tasty meals.”

Tanaya from Odisha wants to become an architect

A 6th standard student studying in Odisha wants to give shape to the blueprints of dream homes of people. She has been Akshaya Patra’s beneficiary for six years and says she loves “the food, especially the soya bean curry. It is my favourite and I like to have it with rice.” The food delights her every day that it reaches on time daily excites her.

To read more such stories of children, click here.

The hope that meals bring in children’s lives is worth a read. Your online donations have the capacity to help children realise that they can dream and achieve them too. Meals are a medium to bring them one step closer to reality, support the feeding of children by joining Akshaya Patra.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO in India that not only provides mid-day meals to school children but also provides cooked meals and essential kits during the Corona pandemic. As a part of its COVID-19 relief services, it has served a total of 5 crore meals to lower-income sections of the society. With your donations towards Akshaya Patra, you help your fellow citizens during the Lockdown period.

Good nutrition, adequate and balance diet is the epitome of good health. These are the founding stones of a strong and healthy immune system. Boosting immunity during this hour of COVID-19 pandemic is what reaps bountiful benefits.

Millions of people around the world are abiding to the ‘social distancing’ and ‘staying safe at home’ norms laid down by the Government of India during the lockdown. Due to the increasing number of people being tested positive for COVID-19, the lockdown that aims to reduce the rapid spread of the disease, seems very far from being lifted. There are millions of people who are unable to go back to their homeland and are stuck at various places. Along with these people, there are others who are not able to access basic resources that are essential for survival; as they rely on daily wages.

The pandemic threatens the ‘at-risk’ population including children, new-borns and the elderly as well. With no catering services to feed them and schools not functioning during the pandemic, they do not get the adequate amount of food that they would otherwise have access to. To help them fight the threat of hunger lurking during the pandemic, many Non-Government Organisations have come forward to provide support. As per The Economic Times, according to the World Food Programme analysis, 130 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020, due to COVID-19.

Going by those number, hunger would kill more number of people than COVID-19. The Akshaya Patra Foundation stepped in to address this problem and started its COVID-19 relief services on 25th March 2020. Working in close coordination with Government of India, State Governments & District Administration, along with receiving ample support in the form of COVID-19 donations from individual donors, corporate donors and the help of thousands of volunteers, it provides food relief to the needy people. It feeds the marginalised and low-income sections of the society that comprises of daily wage workers, construction site workers, migrant labourers and needy people at old age homes and night shelters. The Foundation is serving cooked meals and distributing dry essential kits to the needy on a daily basis during the lockdown period. Till date, Akshaya Patra has served a cumulative of 5 crore meals in the states of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tripura, West Bengal and Punjab.

This World Hunger Day, be a part of Akshaya Patra’s COVID-19 Relief Services. Donate to feed the marginalized sections of the society.