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| Akshya Patra To Hold Benefit Event With Indra K. Nooyi |
Press Release
04/13/2011
Akshaya Patra, feeding 1.3 million children daily, TO HOLD Benefit EVENT INDRA K. NOOYI, CHAIRMAN AND CEO Pepsico, Keynote Speaker
The primary focus of the event will be to raise funds for Akshaya Patra’s unique and innovative program for fighting hunger and promoting education simultaneously. Currently, the program feeds 1.3 million children DAILY in over 8,000 schools through 18 kitchens in eight states in India. For many children this is their only complete meal of the day. The benefit will be attended by key community leaders, business executives and eminent change agents committed to unlock these children from the vicious and perpetual cycle of poverty and determined to closing the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
“Not only will this event serve as a celebration of Akshaya Patra’s marvelous achievements over the past year, it will also be a chance for the Indian-American community to honor a great Indian business leader, Mrs. Indra K. Nooyi,†said Madhu Sridhar, Akshaya Patra USA’s president and CEO.
About Akshaya Patra
The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one of the world’s largest NGO-run midday meal programs. A public-private partnership, Akshaya Patra combines good management, innovative technology and smart engineering to deliver school lunch at a fraction of the cost of similar programs in other parts of the world. It costs only $31 to feed a child for an entire year, and with government subsidy, it takes just $11.50. This meal gives these children 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. These children are not in school because of economic necessities.
Started modestly in Bangalore feeding 1500 children in five schools, 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. Akshaya Patra’s next milestone is to serve 5 million children daily by 2020.
President Obama in his congratulatory note to Akshaya Patra wrote, “Your use of efficient and innovative business practices to scale up in just a few years from feeding 1,500 school children daily to almost a million is a powerful demonstration of what's possible when people work together.â€
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