The Akshaya Patra Foundation, the world’s largest NGO-run school lunch program, announced the opening of its United States offices in Stoneham, MA and that Shikha Bhatnagar will be the founding Executive Director for Akshaya Patra USA.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, in operation since 2000 and based in Bangalore, India, has a mission of helping underprivileged children in India break the cycle of poverty by increasing their nutritional intake and promoting their education.  The organization builds and operates highly efficient, cost-effective kitchens that cook nutritious school lunches which are distributed daily to over 450,000 underprivileged school children in various parts of India.  The organization has received both recognition in India and internationally for its effectiveness, and most recently received a major grant from the Desh and Jaishree Deshpande Foundation to build capacity in its US operations.  The US office will support Akshaya Patra’s mission, create awareness about child education and nutrition issues in India, and explore methods of scaling the operations to feed one million children by 2010.  

“Akshaya Patra is addressing some of the most important challenges facing India,” according to Desh Deshpande, a trustee of the Deshpande Foundation. “We look forward to introducing Akshaya Patra to Americans and helping scale the program throughout India”, added Jaishree Deshpande, also a trustee of the Deshpande Foundation.

In her role as Executive Director, Shikha Bhatnagar will oversee and manage all operations, including fundraising, administrative, and public relation tasks, for Akshaya Patra USA. Formerly of the U.S. Department of Commerce, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Wisconsin, and a Master’s in International Affairs from Columbia University.  Prior to joining the U.S. Government, she worked with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and with the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF), and has previous experience working with rural development organizations in India.  Bhatnagar has also been extensively involved with the Indian-American community. She is an alumnus of the Indian American Center for Political Awareness (IACPA) Washington Leadership Program, served on the Executive Board of the Network of South Asian Professionals (NetSAP) in Washington, DC, and the Upakar Foundation.

For more information about the Akshaya Patra Foundation, please visit www.akshayapatra.org.   

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