Effects of hunger on children. Beat it by donating to charities

 

When you think of hunger, your mind immediately paints a black and white picture of a child probably in tattered clothes scurrying for food here and there.

Sadly, this is true and very uncomfortable.

India is home to 33 lakh undernourished children, out of which 17.7 lakh of them are severely malnourished.

For most of us, hunger is only about skipping a meal. But, in reality, hunger is much more than a missed meal and grumbling stomach.

Hunger is a vicious cycle that only makes room for hungrier children and it is unending. 

What happens when a child is hungry for a long term?

If a child is hungry, depending on the stage of hunger, h/she is categorised as suffering from:

• ·         Acute hunger
• ·         Chronic hunger
• ·         Hidden hunger

Acute hunger is when a child is undernourished for a definable time, for example, during wars and disasters. Chronic hunger is a form of hunger that is associated with poverty where they lack sufficient funds for healthy food. Hidden hunger is a form of hunger that results from an unbalanced diet where initially, the symptoms are not identifiable but in the long-term lead to nutritional deficiencies and illnesses.

Apart from these physical deficiencies and illnesses, children who stay hungry for a long time suffer from mental incapability like forgetfulness, decreased attention span and inability to remember long term memories, resulting in decreased academic scores. 

Make charity donations to defeat hunger in children

NGOs target the grass root levels to eradicate all forms of hunger - acute, chronic and hidden. Some of them even go back to nourishing the mother who carries children – pregnant, nursing and new mothers.

Donating to these NGOs to nourish mothers and their children also makes you eligible to gain tax deductions. 

Your tax deductible donations are either eligible for 50% or 100% tax exemption depending on the registration of the non-profit organisation.

Every charity wants to be the best NGO to donate to because the cause they fight for is so genuine. Also, the impact that donors’ contribution has on the beneficiaries is truly appreciable. Here is a story of a young school child who has beaten the ill effects of malnourishment.

Sachin, a Class 6 student at Hanspal Primary School, dreams of becoming a pilot. He suffered from malnutrition and stunting during his initial days of school. He was never able to focus in class and was weak and lifeless. But after getting regular meals at school, he blossomed into an attentive student who performed well and is a favourite of all the teachers.

Beating all the forms of hunger, he says his school lunch has changed him inside out. Adding to it, he says he prefers school meals to the food he gets to eat at home.

Sachin is a mid-day meal beneficiary of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an NGO in India that serves nutritious meals every day. It has the distinction of being the world's largest NGO-run school lunch programme, serving freshly cooked nutritious meals to over 1.8 million children in 19,039 schools in 14 states and 2 union territories.

Make charity donations to this organisation to end classroom hunger in children studying in Government and Government-aided schools. Your tax deductible donations support food and education of children whose parents cannot afford one square meal a day. Help many more children like Sachin, to break the unending cycle of hunger by feeding them with Akshaya Patra.

Celebrate International Day of Charity with Akshaya Patra

 

Another Feather In The Cap - Mangalagiri Kitchen

 

Summary: With the objective to benefit more and more children with the Mid-Day Meal Programme, The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been relentlessly striving to expand its reach. One if the recent developments is the inauguration of the Mangalagiri Kitchen in Andhra Pradesh. It is an addition to the existing eight kitchens in the state.

Body of content: The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in India, now known as PM POSHAN Scheme, since 2000. The Foundation is cognisant that in its mission to feed the children, it has to consistently maintain high standards with regards to quality of meals, hygiene, cleanliness, and punctuality in preparing and delivering meals, each day. Hence, during the past 21 years, Akshaya Patra has been strategically and sustainably expanding its reach to provide regular nutritious school meals to children.

 Overview of Akshaya Patra’s service

Akshaya Patra began serving children in the year 2000. As a first step, the Foundation provided nutritious meals to 1,500 children in five government schools in Bengaluru. Soon, it realised the pronounced need of these meals. Gradually, Akshaya Patra started spreading its wings beyond Bengaluru and Karnataka. Presently, the Foundation has a beneficiary base of 18,00,907 children studying in 19,039 government schools and government-aided schools. It runs both centralised and decentralised kitchens to feed the children in urban, semi-urban, and remote areas. Currently, Akshaya Patra kitchens are located in 60 locations across 14 States and 2 Union Territories.

 About Mangalagiri Kitchen

·         Launch & supporters: This is one of the recently launched centralised kitchens of Akshaya Patra. Honourable Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Shri. Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was the Chief Guest for the occasion and inaugurated the kitchen. Special guests at the event were Honourable Minister of Education, Shri Audimulapu Suresh; Honourable Minister of Finance & Planning, Shri Buggana Rajendranath Reddy; Honourable Chairman – TTD, Shri Y.V. Subba Reddy; Honourable Member of Parliament, Shri Lavu Srikrishna Devarayulu (MP - Rajya Sabha), and Honourable MLA, Shri Alla Rama Krishna Reddy. The event was presided by Shri Satya Gaura Chandra Dasa in the presence of Shri Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman - Akshaya Patra.

 

This kitchen is supported by the Airports Authority of India. Shri R. Madhavan, Regional Executive Director, and Shri P.V. Rao Directors - Airports Authority of India, were the guests of honour at the event. The patron guest for the event was Shri Sanjeev Kumar, IAS., Chairman - Airports Authority of India. Shri Buditha Rajasekhar, IAS., PS, Department of School Education AP, Shri Vivek Yadav, IAS., Collector & District Magistrate - Guntur, and Shri Arif Hafeez, IPS were the special invitees for the event.

 

·         About the kitchen: This state-of-the-art centralised kitchen will provide nutritious school meals and impact the lives of more than 50,000 children. This will further the progress of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in India. The kitchen is built on latest technology with gravitational technology as one of the main highlights. It has a Condensed Recovery System, Duracrete flooring, ETP for waste management, and fuel saving boiler as an eco-friendly measure.

 

·         Meal menu & delivery: Akshaya Patra will be serving as per the Jagananna Gorumudda Scheme so that it continues to adhere to the dietary norms while serving the local palate. A fleet of 15 vehicles will deliver the food to schools in insulated containers which can maintain the temperature of food for more than 6 hours.

Support Akshaya Patra’s endeavour

The Mid-Day Meal Scheme in India has been a potential intervention in the education sector. It has positively impacted the health, academic, and overall development of children. The meal programme has resulted in increased enrolment rate, attendance, and performance of the children. Help Akshaya Patra to continue to feed the children and create nourished and nurtured generations. You can donate directly, conduct fundraising campaigns, or join as a CSR partner. You can also spread the word in your social network. In conclusion, donate to NGO, nourish children and save tax while you engage in doing good. 

 

Author Profile:

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an Indian NGO implementing the Mid-Day Meal Programme along with other relief feeding initiatives. Your support to Akshaya Patra can directly impacts lakhs of children as well as needy people amid crisis situations across India. Your donation towards Akshaya Patra will avail you tax exemption too.

Contribute To The Society By Starting A Virtual Fundraising Campaign

 

Day in and day out, we hear and read about issues that blocks our society from making optimum progress. We also hear about individuals and organisations that are working to counter those obstacles and transform lives of direct beneficiaries and uplift the society as a whole. The inclination and commitment of such individuals and organisations reinstate that ‘giving back to society’ is not only a moral duty, but a social responsibility too.

How much to give?

Almost all of us would like to contribute to some or the other social initiative, and many of us are doing so already. In the space of charity, each contribution matters. Just like every drop of water makes the ocean, every donation facilitates the work of charitable organisations. For instance, if we are donating to a charitable organisation that strives to feed the hungry, they will be as much dependent on a ₹500 donation as on a ₹10,000 donation. What matters is ‘donate with all your heart’.

While we all want to be as generous as possible, there may be times when we may not be able to contribute the needed or desired funds. In such cases, online fundraising campaigns can be quite promising.

Get together for a cause

Charitable organisations and NGOs are highly dependent on donations to operate, sustain, and expand their work with the core objective of creating maximum impact. When you donate to NGO, you become a part of the solution, and when you encourage others to contribute, you become an inspiration. It is said ‘more the merrier’ and this notion perfectly fits when it is about doing good for the society. So, connect and collaborate with like-minded people to raise funds through virtual fundraising campaigns. 

Start a fundraising campaign 

A fundraising campaign is an effective way to spread awareness about a cause, garner support & maximise impact. Thanks to digitisation for opening up a better opportunity to create awareness and garner support from larger network of people from the across the world. We can create a campaign, promote it on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. and call in for support. 

Almost all NGOs encourage online fundraising campaigns that can be created in just a few clicks. For instance, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a reputed mid-day meal NGO in India provides a platform for supporters to conduct fundraising for their various feeding programmes. Akshaya Patra has been nourishing school children with nutritious meals for the past 21 years. Currently, it provides mid-day meals to 18,00,907 children on each school day across 58 locations in 13 States and 1 Union Territory. Akshaya Patra has always been in the forefront to provide food relief during crisis situations like natural disasters and COVID-19 pandemic. 

Some of the common reasons for supporters to start campaigns for Akshaya Patra are:

-          To celebrate special occasions like birthdays, wedding anniversaries, promotions, or any other important milestones in life.

-          To celebrate different festivals and commemorate important national & international days

-          To raise funds for Akshaya Patra’s Mid-Day Meal Programme to provide regular school meals to children & Relief Programmes to feed the hungry during natural disasters and more recently amid the COVID pandemic 

Akshaya Patra has kept the online fundraising process simple to support the efforts of campaigners. So, you can make an impact in just 3 steps.

1.      Create campaign - Sign in/register with required details & start your campaign.

2.      Ask for support - Create online & offline awareness. Share the campaign link on your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, WhatsApp or talk about it in your network.

3.      Raise funds - Talk about the impact of donation & raise funds to support Akshaya Patra.

When you fundraise and donate to NGO like Akshaya Patra, you directly help in the organisation’s efforts to feed the hungry and ensure food security amid crisis situations. 

In conclusion, fundraising campaigns are a great way to create maximum impact by enabling people around you to participate in the upliftment and development of the entire society. Go ahead and start a campaign now!

Together we can fight COVID

 

The first wave, second wave, vaccinations and many more waves of the pandemic might come and go. A few important things we take away from it:

·         It has changed our economy and lives drastically

·         It has thrown limelight on the labour class and working forces

·         It has made us realise the importance of essential services

·         It has taught us that saving for an unforeseen circumstance is necessary

·         It has taught us that work can be done from anyplace with the help of technology

·         It has brought forth many individuals who support an NGO for COVID relief services

 

Our energy, emotions and attention have all been diverted to self-care and care of family and relatives. During these times of aloofness come a plethora of thoughts that we dwell upon. This is the time when we assess all the changes that have taken place and reflect upon ourselves.

 

·         How can I extend my kindness?

·         How can I help people in distress?

·         I have everything I need in life, others suffer. How can I uplift them?

 

All citizens came together to fight the pandemic by making food donation in India to people in need. While some supported by providing food assistance, others helped by providing monetary aid while others provided medical facilities.

Did you know?

During the 2^nd wave of the pandemic, India received help from 52 countries.

All across the globe, people have always helped their fellow beings in their own little way. Some of them even went a step ahead by cooking food in their kitchens while others chose to stay at the safety of their home and make online donations.

 

Help in the fight against COVID

·         Protecting yourself and others

The most important thing to do is keep yourself safe by adhering to norms given by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare like masking up, maintaining social distance, avoiding travelling unnecessarily, etc. Follow quarantine protocols and follow safety guidelines to stop the spreading of the virus at home.

 

·         Donating money

Millions of people have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Without any savings to support themselves and their families, they are suffering without any money and with bills piling up for payment. All that these people need is monetary help from generous donors who are fortunate not to be affected by the pandemic or the lockdown.

 

·         Donating food

People from low-income sections of society neither have money to buy provisions, food essentials or ration to help them sustain during the pandemic nor do they have the essentials to help them. Some of them do not even have a home to get shelter under.

 

Apart from directly helping by doing any of the three above statements, you can also support an NGO for COVID relief services. There are thousands of non-governmental organisations that support by providing food donation in India. You can support such organisations by donating money to them or by raising funds to help them in carrying out their operations.

 

Support with your food donation in India

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that has been into serving food for school children coming from challenging socio-economic backgrounds for the last 21 years. It runs the world’s largest school lunch programme by providing mid-day meals in 19,039 Government and Government-aided schools.

The Foundation serves locally palatable meals that are hygienically prepared by adhering to safety norms from its 58 centralised kitchens and 2 decentralised kitchens. Apart from serving meals to children, Akshaya Patra also provides free cooked meals to people in need during the COVID pandemic with the help of its supporters, the Government of India and the District as well as State authorities. With its feeding initiatives, the organisation supports construction-site workers, labourers, homeless people, pregnant women, grave-diggers, auto-rickshaw drivers, ambulance drivers, nurses, patient caretakers, aged women, orphans etc. Support this NGO for COVID relief services to help them support more low-income individuals and families.

 

Akshaya Patra serves school meals every day to 1.8 million children of 14 states and 2 union territories of India

 

When individuals and NGOs join hands, it is easy to provide relief to people in need. You never know which family can survive with your contribution. Provide cooked meals or ration, hygiene products, education supplies and other essentials to support marginalised families.

Our Kitchens - Our Pride

 

The Akshaya Patra Foundation runs the world’s largest NGO run school meal programme spread across 13 states and 1 union territory of India. To help more children benefit with the mid-day meal programme, the organisation has constantly been trying to spread across different locations. 2 more kitchens have been added – namely Gadarpur and Puducherry kitchens.