The Akshaya Patra Foundation has launched Gifts For Moms, Smiles For Children, a Mother’s Day campaign that pays tribute to Mothers worldwide while helping to feed and educate children throughout India. Akshaya Patra is an organization with the vision that no child shall be deprived of education because of hunger. The campaign is a way for people to celebrate their Mother, Grandmother, Sister or Aunt by giving them a gift for Mother’s Day that actually gives back.

“The unfaltering love that a Mother invests into raising her children enhances a person’s life in a myriad of ways. The Gifts for Moms, Smiles for Children campaign is a great way for people to honor those Moms that have made an impact in their lives, by giving a gift with a real impact,” said Madhu Sridhar, President and CEO of Akshaya Patra. “Akshaya Patra’s mission of eradicating hunger and promoting education is based on the vision shared by all Mothers worldwide. $28 is a wonderful gift on behalf of a mother that a donor wishes to honor. A child somewhere will smile.”  

Donors to the campaign contribute $28 to Akshaya Patra for each Mother they wish to honor.  Once someone has donated, they can either choose for Akshaya Patra to send an email about their gift to the Mother they are honoring, or they can print out a Mother’s Day letter from Akshaya Patra to place in a card. Akshaya Patra’s midday meal program feeds 1.2 million underserved children daily in 7,000 schools in eight states in India. 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.

As an added bonus for donors in the New England area, Akshaya Patra has partnered with One World Cuisine. All donors that honor at least one mother through the campaign will receive a $25 gift card to one of One World Cuisine's restaurants, which include Bukhara, Café of India, Diva, Kashmir, Mantra and Mela.

“One World Cuisine should be applauded for their commitment to our vision that no child shall be deprived of education because of hunger,” said Kathleen Cosgrove, Akshaya Patra’s Director of Marketing. “Corporate giving programs like the one at One World Cuisine is a powerful demonstration of a company’s values. We commend their leadership and for fostering a culture of giving and service.”

For those who wish to purchase a different gift for their Mom while still giving back, they can do so by shopping through CafeGive, a website that brings together hundreds of online stores that donate part of their proceeds to charity. When someone makes a purchase through CafeGive, up to 20 percent of the purchase price is donated to Akshaya Patra by the vendor, at no cost to the consumer. Some of their vendors include Macys, Best Buy, 1-800-Flowers and See’s Candies.

To donate to Gifts for Moms, Smiles for Children, learn more about the One World Cuisine partnership or to shop through CafeGive, please visit http://www.foodforeducation.org.

About Akshaya Patra

Akshaya Patra is one of the world’s largest NGO-run midday meal programs, and its kitchens are specially designed by engineers to leverage technology. The organization also sources its food stocks from local markets, thereby reducing costs associated with transportation and food spoilage while supporting the local economy. For many of the children this is their only complete meal for the day. This gives them an incentive 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 a short time, the foundation has grown to become the largest, and certainly most innovative, school lunch program in the world. Akshaya Patra is a great example of what can be accomplished when the public sector, private sector and the civic society collaborate-- a cost effective, scalable solution with high quality service delivery. After reaching its goal of feeding one million children each school day, Akshaya Patra’s next milestone is to serve 5 million children daily by 2020.

 

Akshaya Patra has won many awards and accolades. In a letter, Akshaya Patra was heralded by President Barack Obama as “an imaginative approach that has the potential to serve as a model for other countries.” Akshaya Patra was the winner of the prestigious 2009 Tech Award in the education category and was a top five finalist in the 2008 American Express Members Project. Featured at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2007 and 2008, Akshaya Patra was the winner of the ICAI Gold Shield Award for best financial reporting and was the winner of the 2008 CNBC-TV India Business Leader Award for Social Enterprise of the Year.

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