The greater Boston community came together on Sunday, May 1st Akshaya Patra’s 10th Annual Boston Gala to celebrate the NGOs accomplishments and support its growth.   Desh Deshpande is Akshaya Patra USA’s Chairman and Emily Rosenbaum is its USA CEO.

Akshaya Patra provides healthy and fresh school meals to 1.5 million children in government schools across India across 10 states, 24 locations and in over 11,500 government schools DAILY.  The hot, healthy meals allow the children to attend school rather than being forced into early labor to simply supplement wages needed by the family to acquire food.  30% of the malnourished children in the world live in India and India is also home to approximately 60 million child laborers.

“I am touched by the compassion and generosity of Bostonians.  The energy, warmth and positive feelings in the room were overwhelming,” Desh Deshpande, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Akshaya Patra USA, told INDIA New England News. “They came together and raised $1.52 million to support the mission of Akshaya Patra; to make sure that no child is denied of education because of hunger.”

“Last night was a very inspiring evening and I am sure it will not only financially support the organization, but raise the bar for what it does,” Deshpande said.  “The organization will continue to innovate in use of technology, work even more closely with the government and develop a more sustainable financial model.  Thank you, Boston.”

Omi Vaidya, star of 3 Idiots and supporter of Akshaya Patra, opened the evening with humor and an introduction to the organization’s school meal program.  Another  highlight of the event was the keynote speech by Dr. Atul Gawande, surgeon at Brigham & Women’s and New York Times bestselling author of Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters at the End, Complications, Better, and the Checklist Manifesto. Over 500 community, business and philanthropic leaders attended the sold out event. 

“The May 1 Gala was a magical evening with 500 guests and 44 sponsoring families and/ or organizations, inspired words from surgeon, educator, and philanthropist Dr. Atul Gawande, and lightness and humor from actor Omi Vaidya,” Rosenbaum said. “I am so proud of what we were able to accomplish last night with our incredibly committed team of over 30 volunteer leaders under the direction of Rakesh Kamdar, Boston Chapter Chair, and Ankita Narula, Director of Development Northeast.”

She added: “But moreover, I am also proud to say that as we continue to raise the bar of how we can support more and more children with unlimited food for education, more importantly the bar is being raised in India for what children can expect to receive – healthy, nutritious food and a childhood free from labor and full of learning.   Thank you, Boston, for helping us reach these greater heights.”

Reecently, Akshaya Patra’s Founder and Chairman Madhu Pandit Dasa was given the Padma Shri Award in recognition of his distinguished service to the children of India through the Akshaya Patra Foundation. The Padma Shri Award is the fourth highest civilian award granted by the Government of India in recognition of distinguished service in the arts, education, industry, literature, science, sports, medicine, social service and public affairs.

Akshaya Patra runs the world’s largest NGO-run school meal programs and serves children in over 11,500 schools across India. Akshaya Patra’s meals have contributed to increased enrollment,
lower attrition rates, and better student health and academic performance in the schools it serves. Cost-effective technology in food preparation and partnerships with the state and federal governments of India, allow Akshaya Patra to support one child with meals at school each day for a year for just $15. Akshaya Patra USA provides vital funding and helps to create greater awareness of the organization’s work in India.

For more information or to donate to keep children in school and provide them with healthy food, please visit www.fooddoreducation.org.

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