I love to tell people “my favorite hobby is Blogging”. Their immediate response is “hmmm…. But I haven’t seen any blog from you in last 2 years”. “Errrrrr……Well.. ahh… my job is hectic, ahh… didn’t get time” snap, comes my response. To tell you the truth, I have been very lazy to tickle my brain to come up with some inspiring ideas and not to mention the degeneration of my writing skills. Thanks to my very good friend who told me about this contest. He has been instigating me to start blogging again but failed to drive the “Stale brain me” to get started with it, restarted to be precise. Recently, mentioning about this contest he told me “Nivi, please write this time at least, it is for a good cause. Your blog can help feed 50 children. Do it for them”. This cause was enough for me to get started with my favorite hobby once again. I will try my best to do justice in honoring this foundation’s noble cause, with a few words of mine.
A YouTube video posted by my friend on one of the social networking sites enlightened me about the Akshaya Patra foundation. I was fascinated and deeply moved by the kind of work this foundation did, to cater to the needs of the poor, especially children. My mother always sympathized with the kids who had to work in hotels, sell articles etc in order to sustain themselves. She often tipped these kids and bought articles from them ensuring they returned with some money at the end of the day. She sighted them as examples when I used to show displeasure towards food, homework or school, only to make me understand the importance of what I had. Since then I had always wanted to eliminate the need of labor for these children and promote their education. When I read about this foundation I was delighted to find out that a person had actually gone ahead and implemented this which till today remains as an idea in my head. By starting this foundation not only are they helping the children in distress but providing an opportunity for many individuals like me to contribute towards their society and fulfill their desire to help which otherwise would just remain a thought.
I had heard about several government run midday meal schemes in practice but was surprised to know that they were born out of inspiration from this foundation. When preparing food in such large quantities one would be concerned about the process involved, the hygiene and the type of vegetables used. They had an answer to that too; upon seeing the huge technically advanced facilities, the hygiene maintained in the kitchen premises and the vegetables purchased, I was highly satisfied. The safety and accuracy ensured in the supply chain, the transparency in accounting for the utilization of the donated funds and their efforts to provide highly nutritional food with the available funds not resorting to in-expensive means, builds the confidence of the public in them. All these highly valued characteristics of this foundation, gives us the comfort and belief that our donations are being utilized for the greater cause and in a right way, inspiring us to continue to contribute.
Having 100% literacy in India was envisioned by several great political leaders and governments. Introduction of this scheme is the first step towards achieving it. By this scheme Akshaya Patra foundation has addressed the immediate needs of the children; healthy food and chance to attend school which will snow ball into a big revolution, when in the future, we have higher percentage of highly educated, smart and potential young men and women leading our country in several areas of expertise. This would also mean minimizing crimes, illegal activities, and objectionable behaviors etc which occur predominantly due to lack of education among the people. This move by the foundation gives children, their right to education which would eventually brighten their future and the nation’s as a whole.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Akshaya Patra Foundation for being magnanimous in starting this noble task and setting an example for the nation to follow. It is a great responsibility they have undertaken. Being citizens of India it becomes our duty to share this responsibility and encourage such activities, by helping them with whatever little all of you can.
Donations can be made here - http://www.akshayapatra.org/online-donations
