Akshaya Patra has become the first Indian charity to distribute vegetarian food to as many as 2000 poor students and homeless people across London, especially in Camden, Kentish town and to London’s needy students. Over 2 million children suffer holiday hunger, millions need an after school meal and there are hundreds of thousands of homeless, according to organisations and think-tanks, including Mayor’s Fund for London. The charity has already been fundraising to help pay for 1.6million midday meals to school children in India, but with problem of homelessness, school holiday hunger and poor senior nutrition increasingly becoming a larger and a vivid challenge in the UK, it has now decided to step in to help.
Speaking to Asian Voice, Bhawani Singh Shekhawat, the CEO of the charity's Europe operation said, “Our supporters brought it to our attention and suggested we create something to help local communities. Also our partnership with the council of Brent supported by the Mayor Bhagwanji Chohan accelerated everything. We felt that it was our duty to serve both India and the UK and we believe that with the right partnerships we will forge ahead with yet another innovative solution. Akshaya Patra has a long standing track record of providing exemplary food solutions using a range of innovative practices and solutions. We will partner with any Local Education Authority and Councils that are keen to work with us.”
The charity has signed for a partnership with Food For All (FFA), founded by Parasuram Das, and has plans to become one in the future. FFA has a fantastic track record of feeding the needy in and around London, like outside SOAS, and with the new synergies with Akshaya Patra under the banner of Akshaya Patra- Food, they together plan to scale the program to a wider constituency of beneficiaries and to other parts of the UK and Europe.
Elaborating on the menu, the mode of distribution and the future initiatives in the UK, the CEO added, “Our menu is based on Ayurvedic principles of compassionate cooking and ingredients that raise energy levels of those who eat our food. We serve with Rickshaws where congestion charge is a challenge in London and we have a few vans which go to serving stations where we serve a large number of beneficiaries. Our vans will also deliver food to schools and other entities we work with.”
The charity is also actively raising funds for a permanent, full scale kitchen in the UK and plans to serve hot breakfasts, school meals, homeless and also going forward serve Hospitals and nursing homes in the UK.
“Our program of service here serves many purposes including expanding our services in India. Akshaya Patra is completely committed to serve wherever we can. By serving here in the UK we are targeting three important areas 1. We are reducing the cost of providing a fantastic, nutritious, fresh plate of food. 2. We are actively encouraging eliminating food waste by using supermarket surplus with our partnerships. 3. And for every donated meal we serve here we will guarantee a meal in India to a needy child. This is a program that is built along the lines of creating winning partnerships and frugal innovation. With one program, we will serve more in the UK as well as support our every increasing scale of beneficiaries in India which is currently at 1.6 million children daily and growing,” added Mr Shekhawat.
