New Delhi, Nov 12 (UNI) Akshaya Patra on Thursday is commemorating two decades of making a positive impact on the lives of children by providing them nutritious, hygienic and tasty mid-day meals.
Speaking on the occasion, Madhu Pandit Dasa, chairman, Akshaya Patra, said, ‘We are deeply honoured to complete 20 years in service of children providing them nutritious mid-day meals as an incentive to come to school. I have personally met many of these children as well as their families and heard from them what this meal means to them.’
‘I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India, and all the State Governments and UT Administrations for giving us the opportunity to serve the children. We are very deeply thankful to all the non-executive trustees for their various contributions, including their guidance in the implementation of the highest standards of good governance practices in the Foundation. We are also immensely grateful to our corporate partners, individual donors and volunteers for their continued support to all our endeavours, from the MDM Programme to relief feeding initiatives,’he further added.
In a statement, the Foundation said, ‘As Akshaya Patra enters its third decade of service, several eminent personalities congratulated the Foundation and shared their words of encouragement. Sunil Gavaskar commended Akshaya Patra for completing 20 years of wonderful service, providing mid-day meals to India’s children and gave his best wishes for the future. Ravi Shastri praised the organisation for reaching out to millions of children across the country and serving over 320 crore meals since 2000. Kapil Dev was very appreciative of the Foundation’s work during the COVID-19 pandemic and thanked the organisation for looking after the country and the needy ones.’
As the implementing partner of the Government of India’s flagship school feeding programme, the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Scheme, Akshaya Patra serves over 1.8 million children in 19,039 Government and Government-aided schools across 12 states and two union territories. Through the programme, the Foundation strives to address the issue of classroom hunger and promote education in the country.
