Akshaya Patra Foundation: Donate For Children

With one click, you can make a child smile!

Posted by Akshaya Patra Posted on 4:44 PM with No comments

Lighting up a child’s face with a smile is now in your hands! Unlock Smiles is an Akshaya Patra initiative to spread smiles and to feed children through your support. You can donate a smile simply by clicking on the smiley – one smile will feed a child for an entire year.

Through Akshaya Patra’s unlimited food for education, millions of children are able to access education without any fear of going back home hungry. Unlock Smiles initiative, which urges you to sponsor a child, looks forward to reaching out to many more children across India.

Start clicking on the smiles to unlock them. The campaign will be active until Jan 31, 2016!

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation which serves mid-day meals to 1.6 million children across 27 locations in 11 states of India.

10 Things to Know About Akshaya Patra Mid-day Meals

Posted by Akshaya Patra Foundation Posted on 5:19 PM with No comments

Education leads to the all round development in the life of a child. It is a necessary requirement in the progress of a nation. In the government schools, though education is provided freely most of the children tend to be drop outs due to inherent socio-economic factors. Most of the parents would not be in a condition to send their children to schools with a proper lunch and hence children would have to starve during the lunch time. Without proper food a child will not have the energy to concentrate in the class and gradually they will lose interest in studies. They have to accompany their parents to work for a meagre income to buy a meal at least a day.

The Government of India started the mid-day meal programme keeping in mind the children hailing from low income families in government schools. To reach out the benefit to more and more children the State Governments partners with NGOs like Akshaya Patra to implement the Mid-Day Meal Programme. The programme supplies free mid-day meals on school days for children in government and government aided schools supported under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and National Child Labour Project schools run by the ministry of labour.

Advantages of Akshaya Patra mid-day meal

It is the worlds largest meal programme serving 1.5 million children everyday, across 24 locations in India.
The not-for-profit organization started the initiative in 2000 with just 1,500 children.
Addresses two of the most burning challenges in India – hunger and education.
Boosts universalisation of primary education which provides free educational opportunities to all children of the society until they complete the age of fourteen years
Leads to an increase in enrolment in schools as parents are ready to send their children to schools. In the same way students are ready to come to schools.
Leads to decrease drop outs rates in schools as the children need not go in search of a square meal.
Serves as nutritional support to students which suffice the health of children.
A successful public-private partnership in collaboration with The Central Governments and various State Governments, corporate houses and individual donors.
Serves nutritious meals to anganwadi children in India so that they can retain a healthy childhood.
Improves socialization among children from different castes and sects.
Empower women through employment in the kitchens which would help them to lead an independent life.

In fact, it is because of the success of the Akshaya Patra mid-day meals, that food and education are reached out to multitudes of children in India, thus serving as a catalyst to the progress of our nation. The mission of the NGO is to feed 5 million children by 2020. So let us donate for the children so that the organisation can widen its reach to other states in India. It takes Rs. 750 to feed a child for a year!

Ideas to raise fund for Akshaya Patra?

Posted by Akshaya Patra Foundation Posted on 5:53 PM with No comments

When you get involved with our cause only then we can sustain and end classroom hunger altogether from India. The Akshaya Patra Foundation as a NGO needs support and contribution to keep running the mid-day meal programme. And you can do from the comfort of your own home, or anywhere else on your own time as you wishes and want!

Sharing a few ideas to make a head start, you can organise a social gathering. We all are aware that entertainment attracts the most. It is also effective and a fun thing to do to raise fund. You and your friends can have a fabulous evening catching up and sharing stories. Taking the opportunity you can ask for them to donate for the cause of course after share what the cause is all about. No matter how much is the collection it matters a lot to the children who are the beneficiaries of Akshaya Patra. Every bit will go in providing nutritious meals to millions of children.

A sporting event is super fun too! You can bring up good healthy competitions by organising a sports event. With a nominal entry fee to have fun with a range of solo and team sporting competitions like relay, long jump, cricket and football matches and more, you can get a collection to contribute later to Akshaya Patra. You get to have a healthy event with your friends and close ones and also make a lump sum to donate to a cause.

If you don’t prefer outdoor events, there indoor games too! It can be just as fun as outdoor games. Organise a faceoff with your friends over some indoor tournaments like board games, chess, scrabble, jenga and more. You can charge for entry and refreshments. The funds you collect can go to helping the children.

There are many other ways to organize cool events and make a collection to contribute. You can have fun evens at schools to raise fund for The Akshaya Patra Foundation. You can create cool merchandise and sell for a small amount or you can throw summer party during holidays or a fundraising sports day. Bake and sell can be exciting too! Sky is limit to getting creative and doing your bit to help a foundation like Akshaya Patra which is providing 1.4 million children with nutritious mid-day meal every school day. So, get creative for a cause!

To know more how to get yourself involved with us, check here: http://www.akshayapatra.org/get-involved