Akshaya Patra begins Anganwadi feeding programme in Agra

 The Akshaya Patra Foundation inaugurated the Agra branch of its Anganwadi feeding programme on 14 October, 2014. The undertaking was flagged off by the Chief Guest District Magistrate of Agra, Pankaj Kumar; the Chief Development officer Paliwal N.K.; District Programme Officer and other dignitaries.

Akshaya Patra wins Gold at the 44th International Creativity Awards

 

The Akshaya Patra Foundation has won yet another coveted award for its Annual Report 2012-13.  The Foundation won the Gold award in the 44th Creativity International Print & Packaging Design Awards. Competing against thousands of entries sent in from over 32 countries and 22 U.S. states, this is indeed a proud moment for The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

Out of these thousands of entries fewer than 800 were chosen to be assessed by the judges. From this only 2/3rd were selected for an award. Of which 12 per cent of the entries, including Akshaya Patra, were chosen for the Gold award. These winners were those ten per cent of the scores not eligible for a platinum, but with an average score above 5.5. The design collateral is judged based on either their quality of art or advertising impact, or both.

The judges for this esteemed event are chosen every year on a rotational basis. These judges comprise of experts in the field of advertising and graphic design, who will be able to adequately analyse the challenges and triumphs of the design collateral. To maintain a fair judging environment, the panel of judges is selected from different regions, professional specialisations and agencies.

The purpose behind these awards is to ‘award and recognise great design from around the world.’ The annual report of The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been found to be worthy of this privilege, and is a great validation of the creativity, dedication to progress and evolutionary nature of the organisation.

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Driven to be a Doctor

Kalpana Malik may be just ten years old, but she already knows what she wants to be when she grows up. Her dream is to be a doctor someday. While that might seem like a common, frivolous ambition for a young child, Kalpana knows exactly why she wants to take up this noble profession.

"I would like to be a doctor because there is insufficiency of doctors to serve the patients," she says with confidence.

A standard V girl in the Vijayanagar Project Primary School in Puri, she is the youngest of four sisters. Her father is employed as a beach photographer and her mother takes care of the home.

Kalpana is a beneficiary of mid-day meals provided by The Akshaya Patra Foundation. With her characteristic exuberance she expresses her opinion about the food saying, “I love the food, and it’s always fresh and on time!"

Kalpana is whole-heartedly involved in the extra-curricular activities of her school, and especially excels in singing and dancing. She also loves to attend her classes and enjoys learning English in particular.

According to the teachers of Kalpana’s school, the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal is a predominant factor in inspiring children to enrol in school and attend classes regularly. Watching the energy and vibrancy that Kalpana exudes in her conversation and behaviour, we are thrilled to see the positive impact that the healthy meals have on her.

These beneficiaries of Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal like Kalpana inspire us with their optimism, dreams and potential, and keep us striving to carry them through to success.

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President Pranab Mukherjee supports Akshaya Patra

 

In a thrilling development, the Honourable President of India, Pranab Mukherjee met with Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman and Chanchalapati Dasa, Vice-Chairman of The Akshaya Patra Foundation recently. In his discussions with the President, Madhu Pandit Dasa outlined the work and values of the Foundation.

The President in turn expressed his support and appreciation of the work undertaken by The Akshaya Patra Foundation. He expressed his best wishes to the organisation and hope that Akshaya Patra will succeed in its mission of eliminating classroom hunger, and enabling education throughout the country.

Madhu Pandit Dasa responded to the heartfelt support for The Akshaya Patra Foundation from the President of India saying, "We are very honoured to receive the support of The Honourable President, Sri Pranab Mukherjee. This is very crucial for us as we stride to scale-up to meet our mission of reaching five million children by 2020."

 The Akshaya Patra Foundation which started its journey in the year 2000 feeding just 1500 children across five schools, today feeds over 1.4 million children across 10,661 Government and Government aided schools, in 23 locations and 10 states of India.  With a vision that ‘no child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger,’ Akshaya Patra constantly looks to the future to scale up its operations and provide food for education to every child in need. The organisation recently opened up two large-scale, highly mechanised, centralised kitchens; one at Cuttack, and the other at Ahmedabad.

If you would like to support The Akshaya Patra Foundation in its work to eliminate classroom hunger, click to donate online.

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Providing support through adversity

There are many children who cannot dream of attending school, not just because of they are underserved in terms of poverty, but also in terms of enabling facilities. Young Bhanuchander from Telangana is just one of the thousands of children in India suffering from Polio, which makes it impossible for him to walk.

His grandmother, who he calls Ammamma has taken care of Bhanu since he was born. Despite the fact that she suffers from asthma, Ammamma is committed to pushing Bhanu’s wheel chair to the school and back every day.

However there are days when she is too ill or weak to push Bhanu’s wheel chair to school, and he has to miss school. Bhanu’s uncle works as a daily wage earner, an uncertain occupation that on some days yields no money. On days when he does not manage to earn any income the family has to sleep on an empty stomach.

Bhanu especially because of his tender young age and physical ailments requires a steady supply of nutritious food to develop healthily. At school he is a beneficiary of the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal, which has proved to be a blessing for this small family. By eating the tasty, nutritious food every day, even Bhanu’s teachers have faith that he, like many others in the school, will be able to grow healthy and overcome the challenges they face.

Ammamma expresses her relief that Bhanu can reply on the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal saying, “My grandson is happy to go to school since he gets hot food, snacks and fruits also. I can't afford any of these constantly.” Aside from providing children like Bhanu healthy food to combat malnutrition, it also brings Akshaya Patra pleasure to help ease the burden from struggling, devoted family members like Bhanu’s  Ammamma.

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Engineering a way forward

Meghashree dreams of becoming a Software Engineer when she grows up. A studious, young girl of 15 years, she studies in Standard X at the Sharada Vilas High School in Mysore.

A new Akshaya Patra kitchen opens at Cuttack!

 

Staying focused on its aim to keep expanding and reach out to 5 million children by 2020, The Akshaya Patra Foundation has launched its 23rd kitchen at Cuttack in Odisha. This centralised kitchen was inaugurated by Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha, as well as General Surat Singh Sandhu, the Chairman of The Kusuma Foundation and Pankaj Vinayak Sharma, Country Leader of The Kusuma Foundation.