Akshaya Patra providing mid-day meal as a Chhattisgarh NGO

1. Akshaya Patra providing mid-day meal as a Chhattisgarh NGO 1 The Akshaya Patra Foundation (C) Copyright (2015) All Rights Reserved

2. As a non-profit organisation in India, The Akshaya Patra Foundation began serving mid-day meal way back in 2000 with Bengaluru being its first serving location. Its expansion as a Chhattisgarh NGO dates back to January 2009 with the setting up of a centralised kitchen unit at Bhilai. Equipped with latest cooking machinery, the kitchen here is highly mechanised preparing meals for over 23,000 on a daily basis. This NGO in India is known to maintain high standards of hygiene, cleanliness and safety during all the stages of preparing mid-day meals and thus their safety and quality measurements begin at the pre-production stage itself i.e. procurement, storage and cleaning of raw materials. It continues through the production stage when the actual cooking takes place. In order to ensure that the cooked food reaches the schools safely and on time, there are also post-production measures. These standard operational processes are a part of all the kitchens of Akshaya Patra. This has led to meeting of ISO 22000:2005 standards across 10 kitchens and Bhilai’s centralised unit is one among them. As a Chhattisgarh NGO, Akshaya Patra currently feeds mid-day meal to 23,674 children in 160 Government schools each day. The Pan India reach of this Foundation is over 1.4 million children of 10, 845 government schools across 10 states. Considering the importance of spreading awareness this organization has taken the effort to make its website available in seven Indian languages and five foreign languages including English. This gives an opportunity for supporters to read about the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in Hindi too. Akshaya Patra also gives various opportunities to its supporters to participate in the Mid-Day Meal Programme. Get Involved will apprise of different means to support the millions of beneficiaries. 2 The Akshaya Patra Foundation (C) Copyright (2015) All Rights Reserved

3. Trustworthiness is a common concern that arises when we think of volunteering or donating for a charity. However, Akshaya Patra ensures that the trust is maintained among all its stakeholders and hence publishes its Annual Report regularly and makes it available for all. The level of transparency followed by this non-profit organisation in India has received national and international acclaims along with paving way to the ICAI Hall of Fame. It also attempts to bring the supporters and beneficiaries closer through school visits and hope stories from Chhattisgarh and nine other states. As the year 2020 is fast approaching, so also the mission of the Foundation to feed 5 million children. Humongous task indeed, but it is possible with the support and involvement of people from all walks of life. Funds, skill or time, Akshaya Patra acknowledges, appreciates and encourages all forms of support. So get to know about the Foundation with the ease of reading in your comfortable language including reading about Mid-Day Meal Scheme in Hindi. Your participation has the potential to change the future of the nation. Be the catalyst of change and spread the word about your good deed. Your good deed can become the inspiration for others to become change- makers along the way. Follows us @ 3 The Akshaya Patra Foundation (C) Copyright (2015) All Rights Reserved