Akshaya Patra Raises $70,000 At Event In Phoenix

Press Release
Phoenix, AZ

The Phoenix chapter of the Akshaya Patra Foundation, an organization with the vision that no child shall be deprived of education because of hunger, was kicked off on Saturday, January 9, 2010. The event was hosted by the chapter chairs Dr. Jagdish & Dipti Patel. This volunteer chapter is dedicated to raising awareness and funds for Akshaya Patra, a program which provides freshly-prepared, nutritious meals daily to over one million children in 7,000 schools through 18 kitchens in seven states in India.

The event was held at the Indo American Cultural and Religious Foundation of Arizona and attracted over 250 community leaders from diverse professions. For many it was their first introduction to Akshaya Patra.

Akshaya Patra is the world's largest NGO-run midday meal program and is unique in its magnitude, complexity, method of delivery and approach. It is a pioneering program in India's social and developmental sector, which uses technology extensively for minimizing cost, time and labor. It has leveraged technology in cooking and delivery, built global standards of supply chain efficiency and created forward and backward linkages by ensuring that procurement is done directly from the farmers for the inputs and delivered to the beneficiaries in the most cost-efficient manner.

Dr. Jagdish Patel shared his personal story of visiting one of the kitchens in India and encouraged all in attendance to visit a kitchen on their next trip. Madhu Sridhar, Akshaya Patra USA President and CEO, inspired the audience by showcasing how Akshaya Patra exemplifies what can be accomplished when the public sector, private sector and civic society collaborate - a cost effective, scalable solution with high quality service delivery. "Feeding a hungry child is not a charity, it is our individual and collective responsibility," said Sridhar.

The event also featured a rousing speech from Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande, Board Chair of Akshaya Patra USA, who emphasized how Akshaya Patra is making a major social impact in India by adopting for-profit practices and rigor, and the importance of supporting the organization. Mr. Chinmay Patel echoed the sentiments of those in attendance when he said the event "was a great success for a wonderful cause." Dr. Ramesh Rao was "truly inspired by what is going on with the organization."

"There was contagious enthusiasm, positive energy and strong commitment to address the challenges facing the next generation," said Sridhar. Over $70,000 was raised by donations from change agents and community leaders during a pledge drive led by Ms. Kalpana Batni. Dr. Jagdish & Dipti Patel matched every dollar up to $25,000. "We are grateful to see such enthusiasm from the Phoenix community and for passionately sharing our vision of eradicating hunger and promoting education simultaneously," said Sridhar. "This evening was a celebration of the children that we serve."

Technology intensive kitchens are the hallmark of the Akshaya Patra program, that allow for the organization to expand exponentially. The facility consists of a series of mechanized steam-heated cauldrons, custom-built to cook nutrient-rich, native food most appreciated by children on a long-term basis. Mechanization has minimized human handling of food to ensure high standards of hygiene and cleanliness. Steam heating has accelerated the cooking process, enabling the Foundation to prepare a large quantity of food in minimal time. The food is packed into stainless steel containers and loaded into custom-built vehicles. Using a fleet of vehicles, food is transported to participating schools within a 50 kilometer radius. The mapping of the schools to the vehicles has also been done efficiently.

The largest Akshaya Patra kitchen, located in Hubli, prepares over 185,000 meals daily in less than five hours. Each sambhar cauldron has a capacity of 1,200 liters, which can prepare sambhar for 6,000 children in less than two hours. The rice cauldrons can cook 120 kilograms of raw rice for 10,000 children in 20 minutes. In the North Indian kitchens, a roti-making machine has been designed to prepare 40,000 rotis per hour.

Akshaya Patra is the result of an extraordinary public-private partnership to address one of India's greatest challenges - to ensure that its next generation becomes healthy, educated adults and productive members of Indian society. This partnership combines good management, innovative technology and smart engineering to deliver school lunch at a fraction of the cost of similar programs in other parts of the world. It costs $28 to feed a child daily for the entire school year. With an average government subsidy of 50 percent, $28 feeds two children. The food served is based on the local menu, as one of Akshaya Patra's goals is to provide meals of local preference. Therefore, in the northern regions a wheat based menu is served and in the south a rice based menu is served. This meal serves as an incentive for children to come to school, stay in school and provides them with the necessary nutrients they need to develop their cognitive abilities to focus on learning.

In less than ten years, the Akshaya Patra Foundation has expanded its reach from feeding 1,500 children to 1.2 million children. Akshaya Patra's next milestone is to serve 5 million children daily by 2020. For more information, please visit www.foodforeducation.org.

Dr. Patel is looking for eager individuals that would like to get involved locally. Please contact the Phoenix chapter at azfoodforeducation@gmail.com.