As a student, I can completely empathise with the little children who suffer from classroom hunger. Even after being from a privileged background, I have felt the hunger pangs many a times in classroom, mostly because either I would have skipped breakfast or lunch. But, what about those little children who suffer from classroom hunger not by choice, but due to circumstance? I have experienced and believe that when a child is deprived of food, when the child constantly feels the hunger pangs, he can neither concentrate in classroom activities nor give his best.

And, this is where I found my connect with The Akshaya Patra Foundation. My thought is in much alignment with the vision statement of the Foundation, “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger”. This noble thought by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada instantly provoked me to choose Akshaya Patra as the organisation for my internship.

My time in Akshaya Patra

I was interning with the Corporate Partnership Department and my mentor was Mr Balakumar Rajaram. He constantly guided me and supported me in all aspects throughout the internship period. A typical day at Akshaya Patra always began with a cup of tea or coffee. This was followed by reviewing the progress made on an on-going project, and discussions on what new projects or ideas can we work on.

I will forever cherish my days at Akshaya Patra, especially the people and the sumptuous lunch I used to relish every day. Every member at Akshaya Patra were so welcoming that I never felt like an intern. And, I really don’t think I have ever had such a variety of nutritious meals anywhere else till date.

Most memorable moment

If I were to pick one memorable moment in Akshaya Patra, it would be my visit to the H.K. Hill kitchen. It was my first field visit as an intern in the organisation and I was much delighted to see the cleanliness, the machines, the standard and strict process maintained during cooking, and the quality of the meals. My sincere gratitude to Mr Balakumar for including this visit in my internship and for sparing his precious time to accompany me.

Akshaya Patra – A Great Place to Work

Akshaya Patra is one of the most reliable NGOs in India. The Foundation is constantly working towards eradicating classroom hunger, and this is in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations: Zero Hunger and Quality Education. I feel this is a reason enough to recognise this organisation as a “Great Place to Work”.

At the moment, Kerala is reeling under its worst flood since 1924. The torrential rains and landslides that hit the state of Kerala has ravaged the entire state since 8 August 2018, submerging many cities and villages thereby crippling normal life and services. Reportedly, around 10 districts have been severely affected and the entire state has been put under high alert. While the state is receiving help from the entire nation to deal with this unprecedented crisis, The Akshaya Patra Foundation has also stepped in actively in the relief work by providing cooked meals in flood-affected areas.

Know more: www.akshayapatra.org/news/akshaya-patra-distributes-food-for-people-at-kuttanad

More images from the scene: www.akshayapatra.org/photo-gallery/akshaya-patras-flood-relief-service-in-kerala

Relief work by Akshaya Patra

Location of relief work: Alleppey and Chengannur
Relief team: A team of 27 Akshaya Patra employees along with four distribution vehicles and ingredients to cook 25,000 meals had departed from Bengaluru as an immediate relief response. Everyday, additional ingredients including chapatis, drinking water are being sent from Bengaluru to support the operations at Alleppey.

Relief work updates: Akshaya Patra began serving cooked meals from 13 August 2018.

15 August 2018 – Shri S. Suhas, District Collector of Allapuzha came to visit the makeshift kitchen from where Akshaya Patra is preparing and distributing food to people.

On 18 August 2018, Akshaya Patra dispatched three trucks from Bengaluru loaded with food packets and water bottles to Kerala. The NGO dispatched:

• More than 77,000 chapatis,
• 730 packs of fruit bread,
• 10, 872 water bottles (500 ml each), and
• 5,400 water bottles (1 litre each).

20 August 2018 – Additional cooking equipment such as stoves, vegetable cutting machines along with groceries were delivered to Kerala relief team to scale up operations.

25 August 2018 – To mark the tradition of Kerala, Akshaya Patra served Onam special dishes including rice, sambar, palya, and sweet pongal.

28 August 2018 – Shri Kodikkunnil Suresh, MP, visited Akshaya Patra’s makeshift kitchen at the Narasimha Temple in Chengannur.

29 August 2018 – AIKYA volunteers have begun the cleaning up process in government schools and beaches in the flood-affected Alleppey district. AIKYA is the volunteering wing of Akshaya Patra.

Number of meals served:
Akshaya Patra is serving approximately 7,000 – 10,000 meals on a daily basis to the affected people inclusive of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The food is being prepared at two makeshift kitchens – Alleppey and Chengannur.

So far, Akshaya Patra has served more than 2-lakh meals in the Alapuzha region.

Type of meals served: Most of the dishes are prepared in coconut oil to suit the local palate. Dishes like boiled rice and sambar, vegetable pulao, tomato rice, upma, chapati and curry are served in the affected district.

Delivery of meals: Akshaya Patra team with the help of four distribution vehicles are delivering meals to the affected people of Alapuzha.

In areas where vehicles can steer through, cooked food is being delivered to people in Akshaya Patra delivery vans.

The areas where the rising water level has restricted vehicle movement, food is being transported in boats.

Some people also come to the temporary kitchen arrangement to get their meals.

Status of the relief work: On-going

The feeding cost of the relief efforts amounts to Rs. 3-lakh per day. We request your generous support in helping us reach out to more survivors.

Support us: Donate to Kerala Flood Relief

Reinstating Homes and Government Schools

As the flood water is receding, Akshaya Patra has begun reinstating homes and government schools with the support of Youth Volunteers from 28 August 2018. The first batch of 25 volunteers have left for Edathua Village, Alleppey followed by another batch for Thakazhi Village with all necessary equipment’s like pressure gun, mask, gloves, safety shoes, wiper, mop, soap solution, bleaching powder etc.

Akshaya Patra also intends to provide education material to children of this region. The Foundation has already received the first request from Angamaly District MLA for 6,000 school bags, 57,000 note books and 6,000 instrument boxes to distribute to the school children in the flood affected areas.

We request your kind financial support for distributing school bags, notebooks, instrument boxes, cleaning equipment and materials, and restoring school building including blackboards, electrical and other fittings. Your generous support will go a long way in bringing back flood-affected families back to their homes and children to schools.

Read about: Akshaya Patra’s relief effort in Coorg

Akshaya Patra’s Proactiveness During Natural Disasters

Whenever a place is hit by natural disasters like flood or earthquake – within the country or across the borders, Akshaya Patra is always present to provide relief to the affected-people by providing food. Here is a quick overview of Akshaya Patra’s past relief activities:

Gorakhpur Flood Relief

Activity Period: 25th August 2017 to 8th September 2017
Total Rice Based Meals Served: 84,200
Total Theplas Served: 1,92,000

Click here to know more.

Gujarat Flood Relief

Activity Period: 25th July, 2017 to 30th July, 2017
Total Theplas Served: 4,00,000
Areas Covered: Banaskantha District (North Gujarat), Kalol and Ahmedabad regions.

Click here to know more.

Chennai Flood Relief

Activity Period: 8th December 2015 to 25th December 2015
Total Rice Based Meals Served: 2,12,000

Click here to know more.

Nepal Earthquake Relief

Akshaya Patra airlifted 1,00,000 meals to earthquake hit Nepal in April 2015. It also established a centralized kitchen in June 2015 to support the affected people of the region. The Earthquake Relief Centralised Kitchen Project was a joint initiative undertaken by Akshaya Patra, Jamsetji Tata Trust, and Sipradian Sahayata Sanstha. The kitchen served 1.4 million meals to the affected people for 88 days. Click here to know more.