Dictionary meaning of the term volunteer is, “a person who performs a service willingly and without pay.” Each person can take up volunteering for a cause he or she supports. The interest of the person to make a mark on the society by becoming a part of the solution can go a long way in changing the nation. Like drops and drops make an ocean, the acts of each and every volunteer contribute to the development and progress of any country.

 Volunteering has several benefits. It has an impact even on the individual’s life apart from the cause in support. It helps a person in developing skills or using one’s skills to the best possible extent. Volunteering is a great opportunity to socialize and meet likeminded people.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation also enjoys the unending support of volunteers. These volunteers are committed to the cause of eradicating hunger from our country and promoting education. Akshaya Patra offers volunteer participation in two ways namely, online and offline.

The offline opportunities include:

• Introducing Akshaya Patra to your Institute/Company. 
• Raise funds for the cause through events. 
• Becoming our consultant. 
• Visiting schools where Akshaya Patra food is served. 
• Helping in kitchen operation. 
• Supporting  for events and campaigns

The online opportunities include:

• Becoming an online supporter.
• Writing about Akshaya Patra in your blogs.
• Online fundraising.
• Social media volunteering.

“The world is hugged by the faithful arms of volunteers” said Terri Guillemets. Akshaya Patra feels safe to be in the hands of volunteers like all of you.

To know more visit: http://www.akshayapatra.org/volunteer

A group of delegates comprising of 16 entrepreneur led web mission to India visited Akshaya Patra’s Vasanthapura, Bangalore kitchen early morning on 12^th Feb 2013. They were all enthusiastic and excited to know about the kitchen process through their short visit. They considered their early hours of the day spent in a very fruitful way.

Web mission is entrepreneur led mission comprising of sixteen of the UK’s most promising digital wireless and mobile software technologies. The mission is supported by UK’s Technology strategy Board and British Government’s Trade and Investment department. The group took the tour of all the three floors  paying full interest in knowing the each aspect of the operation.

They were impressed to see how Akshaya Patra has used innovation in scaling up the production from feeding 1500 to 1.3 million children and played its role in boosting social development.

Akshaya Patra has 19 centralized kitchens using technology relevantly .  The kitchen has been built across three levels where the preparation process begins at the top most level and is finished as it passes on to the next level (next floor). On The roof top big silos are kept that hold rice and lentils from where the ingredients go down to different floors and go through the process of preparation.  Finally hot cooked meal goes down a further floor where it is packed in the  containers  to be hauled in insulated vehicles delivering to different schools.

With help of gravity flow mechanism this food is transported down to a lower level through channels built through the ceiling. Custom-made machinery is used for cooking which reduces human intervention and keeps the food hygienic. Akshaya Patra Foundation makes use of systems like ERP, 5S and kaizen to make use of the optimum resources for storage, production and distribution.

These kitchens are pivotal to the foundation providing hot nutritious and wholesome meal to the children.  The Akshaya Patra has been harnessing technology for innovation in its kitchen process that has been the main cause of being able to scale up production. All this has immensely impressed Web Mission 13 who wrote “Web Mission /Web Mission wrote- It is a very effective model of innovation in process and precise time management; built and refined on a charitable basis.”

Many of the delegates tweeted very positively about Akshaya Patra‘s service, its operation and mission.

Source: 1 http://webmission.com/akshaya-patra-kitchen-visit/

2 http://www.akshayapatra.org/web-mission-2013-kitchen-visit