Sponsor mid day meals to children in Gujarat by The Akshaya Patra Foundation

A visit to the kitchen and food distribution by the donors

On 11 December 2019, at the CII Food Safety Quality & Regulatory Summit and Award Ceremony in New
Delhi, The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s Bhavnagar kitchen bagged the prestigious CII Award for Outstanding
Performance and the Thane kitchen received CII Commendation Certificate for Strong Commitment to Good
Manufacturing Practices.
On 20 February 2020, Honourable Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Kamal Nath graced the occasion of
Bhumi Pujan of The Akshaya Patra Foundation at Chhindwara district. The dignitaries present along with the
Chief Minister were Shri Nakul Nath, MP of Lok Sabha; Shri Ravi Jhunjhunwala, President of HEG Ltd.; and
Shri Chanchalapathi Dasa, Vice-Chairman of The Akshaya Patra Foundation.
The Foundation’s Chhindwara kitchen aims to feed healthy and nutritious meals to 7,000 students in 116
Government and Government-aided schools within the first phase. In the second phase, Akshaya Patra aims to
serve school meals to 15,000 students over a period of six months.

Awards and kitchen inauguration in progress

Program Update

Akshaya Patra reaches out to 1,762,133 children in 42 locations across 12 states of India, providing them with freshly cooked meal on all school days. Currently, we implement the mid-day meal programme in 15,024 schools of the country, with plans to increase that number to hundreds more The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been chosen as the BBC World Service’s Global Food Champion 2019.
Shri Chanchalapathi Dasa, Hon’ble Vice-Chairman of Akshaya Patra, received the award at a ceremony held in Bristol City Council, United Kingdom. The CEO of Akshaya Patra UK, Mr Bhawani Shekhawat also attended the award ceremony.
This was the third edition of Global Food Champion, an annual award that honours people or causes that help societies and inspire lives. In 2018, a very talented chef and caring humanitarian, Mr Jose Andres – the man who helped provide 3.4 million meals to people in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria – won the award.

Story from the field

Harsh Kishorbhai Dodiya. I study in Standard VIII at Dhumketu Prathmik Kumar Shala - 218, Surat, Gujarat. I like going to school very much. Every day I learn something new at school. Geography gives me a hard time but I love Science.e small science lab in my school allow students to do experiments under teacher's supervision. It helps me to understand practical aspects of science along with theory lessons that are taught in the classrooms. Science lab class is only once a week but I wish we had it every day. It makes me curious how chemical compounds when put together forms essential liquids like water! I want to be a scientist whose discovery will serve a great cause to the whole world one day.
I stay with my uncle and aunt along with my three elder sisters and grandfather in a small thatched roofed kuccha house. My uncle is a brick layer (mason labourer). Every morning, he stands in the market, waiting for contractors to come and choose labourers for the day’s work at construction sites. As the only earning member of the family, he knows that if he is not chosen for work that day, he will come home empty handed without any food to feed us. But, due to his pleasant behaviour, contractors often offer him jobs, barring some unfortunate days. He always tells me to be polite and treat others with respect. He loves us very much.
He took all the pains to enrol four of us (my sisters and me) in a school. I thank Akshaya Patra for serving free healthy mid-day meals to all the children at my school. It keeps me full for the day. Khichadi, sabji and thepla are my favourite dishes in mid-day meals.

Program Update

The noble cause of The Akshaya Patra Foundation began with serving school lunches to about 1,500 children in 2000 to 5 government schools in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The organisation, known for its dedicated service, now aspires to reach out to 5 million children daily by 2020.

Starting the cause with just 1 van delivering food from a kitchen in Bengaluru across the schools, the Akshaya Patra Foundation now serves over 1.7 million children across 14,173 schools in 12 states across India.

The programme embraced the vision that -
"No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger."

Today, through the partnership with the Government of India and various State Governments, as well as philanthropic donors; the organization runs the world's largest mid-day meal programme. Built on a public-private partnership, Akshaya Patra combines good management, innovative technology and smart engineering to deliver a nutritious and hygienic school lunch.

Story from the field

During a visit to the Golvanta Primary School, Golvanta, Gujarat we met an energetic but shy child Mayur Kanaji Thakor. A bright and sincere student, he likes playing and his favourite subject is Gujarati which also happens to be his mother tongue. Mayur wants to grow up to be a doctor.
Mayur comes from a family of four with his father as the sole breadwinner with a monthly earning of Rs. 6,000. His mother is a homemaker, and his younger brother is a student in the same school and an Akshaya Patra beneficiary.
Akshaya Patra's mid-day meals are popular in Mayur's school and he loves the food too. On being asked about the taste, he couldn't just resist himself telling us about his favourite food served at school, which is Dal-Dhokli. He says, "It is hot and tasty!" He adds "I only have khichdi and sabzi when I go back home and that's all."
Not-so-privileged economic background is indeed a hurdle but Mayur has not let it become an obstacle in his aspiration. With Mayur's expression of words, it was evident that the 'never-give-up' attitude of this child will help him soar high in life.

We wish him all the luck for a bright future!