Festival season is upon us and joy and merriment are flying thick in the air! Perhaps the pleasures of celebrating festivals are experienced best as a child. Here are five reasons why festival memories of childhood are always etched in gold:

1. Yummy special treats
Festivals mean food. Family members, particularly mothers, labour all day concocting delicious sweetmeats and special treats for the occasion. Meddling in the kitchen as a child is routine, as the tempting aromas waft out. Once prepared, the family gathers to eat together and the spotlight is often on the young ones, as elders gear up to feed the children. Gorging on these delicacies, particularly sweets, without cares like diet-consciousness which creep into the adult psyche over time, is an incomparable feeling!

2. Ganging up with the cousins
Festivals are a time for family get-togethers and this means ganging up with cousins and having a blast with them! Playing all day long with siblings and cousins – be it catch-and-cook, hide-and-seek, hopscotch, or bursting crackers, the carefree revelries add to the magic of childhood. Running around while the elders are busy catching up and having their animated conversations adds to the festive cheer in the house!

3. Receiving gifts
Who doesn’t like receiving gifts? We all do! But receiving gifts as a child is a very, very special affair. Be it that new toy that one coveted, a board game that one has wanted for long, the shiny new shoes or a gift of cash to add to the piggy bank, festival time begets all this! Covered in bright, sparkly gift-wrapping paper, these presents are remembered for a long time to come!

4. Wearing brand new clothes
Festival shopping is an eagerly-awaited event. Heading out with parents for buying brand new clothes is a blissful activity! Sifting through the new stock of clothes to choose what is best causes much distress, but once one finds the perfect frock or a t-shirt that is sure to be the new favourite, the mood turns bright indeed! Wearing these brand new clothes on the day of the festival and clicking a ton of pictures with family and friends cements the wonderful memories in time.

5. Holiday time
One of the best things about festivals is that they bring in the holidays! Whether it is a day’s holiday or a long one of two weeks, festivals mean a break from school. One can sleep for as long as one wants and watch all their favourite cartoons on television. Lazing around, playing games throughout the day, going on a family vacation for a few days – all this is permissible and doable during the festival holidays!

A time for merriment, games, devotion and lots of sweet and savoury treats – festival time is one to make wonderful memories, sharing food and drink with loved ones and getting pampered as a child. You can do your bit to add festive cheer to the lives of children across India and help them feed one wholesome, nutritious meal a day to keep them in school. Donate now!

We have all learnt the English alphabet by associating each letter with something we were familiar with as a child. Let’s reverse the process. To help you get familiar with Akshaya Patra’s work, we have summarised it all in 26 words.

A – ATTENDANCE

Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal programme has been effective in bringing children to school. Many schools have witnessed an increase in attendance since children are assured of one wholesome meal a day. For teachers, it’s always a delight to hear children answer their attendance in schools.

B – BLUE BUS

After the food is prepared, Akshaya Patra’s Blue buses deliver the fresh meals to more than 11,000 schools in India. With over 1200 vehicles that are custom designed to carry hot meals safely, hot and heallthy meals are served to children.

C – CHILDREN

The entire programme of providing mid-day meals revolves around children. More than 1.5 million children are being benefitted by Akshaya Patra’s meals every day.

D – DONATIONS

Donations is undoubtedly the backbone for our work. The immense financial support from the government, corporates, individuals and well-wishers continues to help us reach millions of children every day. You can donate to NGO too!

E – EDUCATION

We truly believe that no child should be deprived of education due to hunger. By providing mid-day meals every day, Akshaya Patra ultimately encourages every child to attend school.

F – FUNDRAISING

With Akshaya Patra, you can create your own fundraising campaign on our website and help us receive support. It’s an engaging activity and your efforts will directly help the beneficiaries.

G – GOVERNMENT AND AKSHAYA PATRA

The support from the Government of India and State Governments has made the mid-day meal porgramme an affective one. Timely procurement of grains, fund collection and tax exemptions have helped in easing the process of reaching millions of children.

H – HEALTH AND HYGIENE

Hygiene is our topmost priority when it comes to quality. Each staff member in the kitchen follows a hygiene chart and vessels are sanitised before and after usage, among other things on the checklist. This directly impacts every child’s health.

I – INNOVATION

We are constantly working towards using technological innovations that enhance our productivity and help maintain quality standards.

J – JOBS

Each one of Akshaya Patra’s department is dedicated to making a difference. We have more than 6000 employees pan India who dedicate their work hours every single day towards the cause and help each other grow.

K – KITCHENS

All of Akshaya Patra’s kitchens are well crafted with beautifully planned schedules to help us operate in the best way possible. Today, 12 of our centralised kitchens are ISO 22000:2005 certified.

L – LARGEST NGO

The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been conferred as the world’s largest NGO-run mid-day meal programme. We currently feed mid-day meals to more than 1.5 million government school children every day.

M – MID-DAY MEALS

To put an end to classroom hunger, we rely on mid-day meal programme. It has emerged as a major solution to achieve 100 per cent school enrolment. Hot and nutritious meals are delivered to all of Akshaya Patra’s beneficiary schools on all school days.

N – NEWS

We are thankful to the media for the immense support that we receive in highlighting our work. Our website has a News section too where we showcase important updates.

O – OPERATIONS

It is a massive operation to procure raw materials, prepare food, pack them in vessels, deliver them to schools and bring the vessels back to the kitchens. To achieve these, we follow a standardisation module in all kitchens and departments.

P – PROCUREMENT

From an inventory of vegetables required to make and deliver food to schools to procuring the raw materials every day, the procurement team gets the best of all at the best of prices.

Q – QUALITY

While we are reaching out to hundreds of children on a daily basis, quality continues to be the main ingredient. To maintain the quality, we follow FSSAI specifications and ensure the food is fresh when it reaches the school. A daily feedback mechanism from school plays an important part in this.

R – RECIPES

The recipes are monitored regularly to meet the needs of children in terms of calories, protein and nutrition. Nutritious food is as important as good taste. Akshaya Patra’s ingredients achieve the right balance here.

S – SCHOOLS

More than 11,000 schools are covered under Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal programme. While the teachers nourish children with knowledge, we believe in nourishing their minds through healthy food.

T – TRANSPARENCY AND TRUST

We believe that transparency is the key to trust. At the end of each financial year, we release an Annual Report, complete with financial audits. Did we tell you our award winning annual reports are a favourite among our stakeholders?

U – UNLIMITED FOOD

As the name suggests, children have access to unlimited food. The thought behind mid-day programme is to provide unlimited food for education—to ensure children’s education is not interrupted due to hunger.

V – VISION

Our organisation works towards its vision ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.’ It is also our mission to reach 5 million children by 2020.

W – WHOLESOME MEAL

Every meal served is packed with nutritious ingredients as per Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA). We ensure that the child’s daily intake of food has sufficient nutrient requirements to maintain good health.

X – FACTOR

We live with an X factor. Akshaya Patra started serving 1500 children in Bengaluru and today, the reach is more than 1.5 million. Every day we look out for opportunities to reach more children. We have recently embarked on a journey named ‘Giving Every Dream a Chance’—an initiative to help children realise their dreams and passion.

Y – YOU

You matter to us! When thoughtful and compassionate people like you join forces with us, we are empowered to bring a change.

Z – ZEALOUS PROGRAMME

It is our attempt to feed the millions of children in India who have the zeal to learn and achieve, but not the means. Akshaya Patra simply acts as the means to ensure children receive adequate support to further their education.

With that, it’s a wrap on the A-Z of Akshaya Patra! Stay tuned for more interesting reads!