Light the Lives of Children this Diwali

 

Happy Diwali from The Akshaya Patra Foundation! As a part of your festivities, contribute to feed underprivileged children with breakfast and lunch in their schools. Support their health & education so that they overcome the evil of hunger & illiteracy.

Celebrate Dhanteras with a tinge of goodness

 

Dhanteras is a much-awaited festival for Hindus in India as it is called the day of wealth. The word ‘Dhan’ means wealth and ‘Teras’ means the thirteenth day of the Hindu moon cycle. This auspicious day falls on the thirteenth day in the month of ‘Karthika maasa’ on the day of Karthika Krishna Paksha as per the Hindu calendar. This day marks the beginning of the five-day-long festival of Diwali or Deepavali.

Dhanteras or Dhantrayodashi is believed to be the day Goddess Lakshmi emerged as a result of the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthan). On this day, people pray to the Goddess for a long life filled with wealth, health and prosperity of their whole family. It is a general ritual of buying new things and purchasing valuables suggesting that the Goddess has entered the home herself.

Significance of Dhanteras

Several stories revolve around why Dhanteras is celebrated and what the significance is in different parts of the country. One popular one is that of Dhantrayodashi. Apart from this, there is a story of celebrating Yama Trayodashi. According to a legend, King Hima’s son who was 16 years old, was predicted of dying from a snake bite after four days of his wedding. The prince’s wife did not let him sleep on the third night, lit lamps and laid out all the jewels, gold coins, etc. outside her husband’s sleep chamber. The young princess kept him awake by singing songs and narrating stories. That night, when Lord Yama came in the form of a snake, the light from the jewels and the lamps blinded him. He wasn’t able to enter the chamber, hence sat on the pile of coins and listened to the stories and songs. And, the next morning, he went away without taking Hima’s son. 

According to Bhagavatha Purana, Lord Dhanvatari – the originator of Ayurveda appeared with Amrit – the elixir of life, during the churning of the ocean, on this very day.

This day holds more significance as a day where new replaces old.

Similarly, we should clear our minds of all the negativity and fill ourselves with good thoughts and kindness to either donate to feed the children who are hungry or to take care of homeless people. Thousands of people and little children stay hungry trying to make ends meet. For them, every single day is a day of struggle between food and other necessities.  

To support such parents who struggle to feed and educate their children, NGOs sponsor their meals and education with the help of online donations or in-kind donations from their supporters. These non-profit organisations implement various programmes that are a part of the Government’s beneficial schemes like the Mid-DayMeal Scheme under the PM Poshan Abhiyaan for children and the Anganwadi scheme for pregnant and lactating mothers under the Integrated Child Development Services. 

One such not-for-profit organisation is The Akshaya Patra Foundation which works on a Public-Private-Partnership model to provide mid-day meals to school-going children under the PM POSHAN Abhiyaan. With various individual donors, corporate partners who donate to feed the children and strong support from various Governments, the NGO cooks and serves locally palatable meals to eliminate classroom hunger.

Akshaya Patra is a 21-year-old NGO that feeds meals to 20,10,516 children in 22,367 schools across 65 locations in 14 states & 2 union territories of India. 

What can you achieve by supporting Akshaya Patra?

By contributing to Akshaya Patra to provide nutritious meals to children studying in Government and Government-aided schools, you support in:

• ·         Nourishing children and taking care of their nutritional status
• ·         Giving children a chance to get educated by giving them a reason to come to school
• ·         Helping children concentrate in class so that they improve their scores
• ·         Reducing the chances of school dropout rates
• ·         Giving children the hope that they too can dream to achieve something they thought they could never achieve.

Can you imagine the smiles on their faces when they get these meals and also get an opportunity to achieve more in life? It is priceless!

So this Dhanteras, make way for new thoughts. Wish the best for children by giving them a future filled with health and dreams.

May you and your family be blessed with abundance!

Happy Dhanteras!

Akshaya Patra reaches a new milestone!

 

Experience the Joy of Giving this Daan Utsav

Atithi Devo Bhava is a practice in Indian society where a guest is treated with the utmost respect. The hosts provide them with the best experience while they spend time with each other, by offering them food, clothes, etc. It is a form of social service that has existed since ancient times. Giving is considered to be auspicious and people are also aware of the bliss that comes with being helpful to others’ needs.

To continue the age-old tradition of giving to the underprivileged or people who need some form of help, Daan Utsav is observed from 2-8 October every year. This week has been celebrated since the time it was first started in 2009 and was called the Joy of Giving week. It is a perfect time to fill someone’s life with loads of happiness and get content in return for doing good for the underprivileged. It is a week of enthusiasm where people from all walks of life come together for a single cause – GIVING.

Daan Utsav is celebrated in many places across India like Bhuj, Sancoale, Aluva, Mysuru, Imphal, Jammu and Sukma. 

What Daan Utsav for different people

Individuals, corporates, the Government, non-profit organisations, institutions, volunteers, communities and the general public. To raise awareness about this week, celebrities also join hands with one or the other NGO in India and take out time to play, dance and sing with people from challenging backgrounds during press releases, inaugurations, book launches, school annual functions, association parties, etc.

No matter who it is, life is all about giving and even domestic workers, street vendors and washerwomen give when they have or receive. Nobody wants to get left behind, everyone wants to receive the endless joy of giving. So is the case with school children too. Donation campaigns are conducted in schools where they bring old books, stationeries, etc.

There is no better time to turn your kindness into actions of donating resources, money, time, food or time or skills to the have-nots, than this festival of philanthropy!

Donate to NGOs on Daan Utsav

During Daan Utsav, NGOs conduct collection camps, on various events that:

• organise therapies for children with special needs
• train youth to get skill-based jobs
• raise funds to train unemployed people
• feed the hungry and malnourished people
• bring various opportunities in all fields to marginalised communities.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a trusted NGO in India that has been serving nutritious meals to school children coming from low-income sections for the last 21 years. What started off with a kitchen that fed 1,500 children in Bengaluru, is now 65 kitchens strong that feeds close to 2 million children every day. Apart from its flagship programme that will feed the hungry school children in Government schools, it also takes care of the nutrition of pregnant and lactating mothers as nutrition is of utmost importance during the early years of child development.

Apart from running the Anganwadi Programme, the Foundation runs other programmes that you can support this Daan Utsav.

PM Poshan Abhiyaan

To eliminate classroom hunger, help children focus and cater to their nutritional requirements, Akshaya Patra implements the school feeding programme under the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN Abhiyaan, formerly known as the Mid-Day Meal Programme).

 Anganwadi Feeding Programme

Akshaya Patra provides adequate nutrition to nursing and would-be mothers so that they and their children are well nourished right during the early days of life. Under this programme, children under the age group of 6 years get daily nourishment in the form of meals.

Homeless Mothers Feeding Programme

Homeless mothers are wives or mothers who have lost their husbands and are not living with their families; they are either abandoned by their first circle or by their children and do not have a place to live. Akshaya Patra’s Homeless Mothers Feeding Programme provides meals to these women who are trying to make ends meet. The programme is currently active in Vrindavan.

Breakfast Programme

The Indian Medical Association and the Indian Academy of Pediatrics have advocated for a free breakfast programme where students will be provided with a healthy breakfast each school day. Akshaya Patra’s pilot Breakfast Programme was initiated in Hosur, Tamil Nadu in 2017. The breakfast offered in school acts as an incentive for children to enrol and attend regularly.

Your contribution matters

Become a part of Akshaya Patra’s donor family by choosing to support a programme of your choice. Donate online to make a difference in the lives of people in need.

This Daan Utsav, pull someone out of distress.
Set an example with your generosity.
Lift the lives of underprivileged people.

Five benefits of contributing to an NGO