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

New kitchens were inaugurated by Akshaya Patra to reach out to more children. 5 new kitchens were launched in the last 6 months, which means that close to 1,50,000 more children will get access to mid-day meals. At present 18,00,907 children are given mid day meals daily. Mid-day meals are prepared in the centralised and decentralised kitchens with top priority given to hygiene and safety. Locally palatable meals are prepared in a cyclical manner to break the monotony in taste that could lead to wastage of food. These meals are distributed in over 19,039 Government and Government-aided schools to end classroom hunger in children. The school meals served by The Akshaya Patra Foundation are healthy and nutritious. These meals when served on a daily basis, nourish them for a long term and support the overall development of children – physical and cognitive. These meals also act as an incentive for children to come to school every day, thereby reducing the school dropout rates, which in turn helps them get educated. These meals help children focus for a longer time and increases their attention span, ultimately improving their academic scores.

The vision of The Akshaya Patra Foundation is to feed 5 million children by 2025. In order to achieve this number, many more kitchens will be launched to ensure that nutritious meals reach to every nook and corner of the country, so that every school-going child from the low-income sections of society is benefitted.

Rajalaxmi Mohapatra studies in Odisha's Dumuduma Village PUP School's 6th standard. She is born to Jagannath Mohapatra a security guard and Sasmita Mohapatra who is a homemaker. She dreams of becoming a Police Officer. To become a Police Officer, she is aware that her body needs nutritious meals to stay strong. As a school meal beneficiary, her nutritional requirements are met by the mid-day meals. Her favourite dishes are Rice, Kheer, Dalma, Paneer and Rajma.

Shradhanjali Behera, from Odisha, studies in 5th standard of Government Primary school, Nazarpur. She lives with her parents who are daily wage workers and two elder brothers. It is difficult for her family to survive only her father's income, hence, the mid-day meals provided at school are a boon. These meals help in the development of her mind and body. Shradhanjali says that these meals are nutritious and tasty.

Due to the closure of schools, mid-day meal beneficiaries were deprived of their daily share of nutrition. Hence, to nourish them while schools were closed, Happiness Kits were provided to support their nutrition, health, hygiene, and education. Many dignitaries and famous personalities have supported the implementation of the mid-day meal programme.

109 children are fed every day. By receiving mid-day meals every day, their health improved and they were able to concentrate better in the classroom. There was a significant improvement in their physical strength and cognitive ability.

Due to the closure of schools, mid-day meal beneficiaries did not receive their daily share of school meals. To nourish them while they studied at home and to support their families, Family Happiness Kits were provided. Each kit contained rice, wheat flour, pulses and legumes, spices, oil, etc., along with learning materials like activity workbooks, colored pencils and crayons, etc. We aim to feed 109 children every day for the next 6 months.

ROSHNI I want to be a cosmetic surgeon. 6th standard Roshni, studying in Odisha’s government school. She is one beneficiary who has developed a liking for the internet and digital India. She has a small patch of white-colored skin on her chin. Roshni realized that she was insecure about her patch and worried about the food she ate for no reason. Today, she is glad she has accepted the patch as her mark of identity. With this identity, she wants to become a cosmetic surgeon and give confidence to people who are insecure about their looks.

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.
https://www.akshayapatra.org/stories-of-children/archana-the-girl-who-dreams-of-joining-the-police-force

Story from the field

My name is Shakti Kumar Dash. I am an Akshaya Patra beneficiary from Chandra Brahmapur School in Puri. I study in Standard VI. Drawing is my favourite pastime and I have been drawing regularly ever since I could hold a pencil. My favourite subject is Odia and favourite teacher is Ms Dharitri Mishra. She teaches in a friendly way and has a kind behaviour towards students.
I work hard for the lessons taught in my classroom. I believe, it's my positive thinking and confidence that helps me in scoring the highest marks in the entire class every time. Indeed, I feel I can do much more!
My father works as a priest for the last 25 years and mother is a homemaker. It’s no secret that I draw inspiration from my parents. In fact, I’d say they are the biggest reason I’m so passionate about helping people to the best I can.
My name, Shakti, speaks much about me. I admire power. As I grow up, with my strength I want to become a Police Officer and extend help to people for good.
I have been relishing the mid-day-meals served at school by Akshaya Patra since last 6 years. It is hot, tasty and calms my hunger. In mid-day-meals, I like soya chunks and kheer the most. My parents have also tasted the mid-day-meals and they say it will keep me healthy.

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

A student of class III, Ranthi came across as a shy child. Ranthi lost her father when she was a toddler. It got worse when her mother--perhaps worried about how she would raise a child on her own--left without informing anyone. Ranthi was left at the mercy of her grandparents, and despite having a host of problems--poverty being one of them, the couple decided to raise the girl as their own child. Ranthi's grandfather, who works in other people's fields as a daily wage employee, narrates the story of how they mustered the courage to send the little girl to school. "We live in a bad condition. Most of our energy is spent in trying to figure out how to get a proper meal for ourselves and Ranthi. The thought of sending her to school was there. We couldn't give our son proper schooling, and as a result, he is out there in the city doing odd jobs that come his way. We didn't want Ranthi to suffer the same fate. So we wanted to send her to school, but couldn't figure out how to do that."

Ranthi's grandparents had heard about meals being distributed in the school every afternoon, but they were under the assumption that they will have to pay to get that food. They were not sure if they could afford it. One day when he was passing by the school, he saw Akshaya Patra vehicle delivering food to the school. He mustered courage to ask the vehicle driver where this food was coming from and how much he would have to pay for it. "When he said I won't have to pay anything, I was surprised," he remembers. "He sent me to the school authorities and they told me that if I get Ranthi admitted to the school, she too will get the same food." He was elated at the idea of his granddaughter getting a plateful of food every day, something that she was not guaranteed at home. Thus, started Ranthi's journey of schooling, and along with good food, she also got access to proper education. Ranthi symbolizes the story of hundreds of children from these parts of Odisha, for whom school is the route to better life.

At 11, Ranthi may not understand the importance of nutritious food, but there is no denying the fact that it is important for her growth. At home, they mostly eat rice gruel with salt or chilies--a trend that is quite prevalent in this region. At school, she gets a variety of food, including her favorite daal paneer, kheer, and soyabadi. It is this nutritious food that helps Ranthi make the most of the playtime she gets at school!