With the fate of the migrant Indian families in question, the Akshaya Patra Foundation conducted its Boston Virtual Gala on May 03, 2020 and was successful in generating funds amounting to $1 million.
The organisation has successfully served over 40 million meals to the migrant workers since the beginning of the lockdown in India. It also feeds 1.8 million children every day during the school year.
The gala was attended by over 1000 businesses, non-profits, government officials and philanthrophic leaders from across the world. All the attendees helps support the dual mission of the organisation which is to end childhood hunger as well helps help provide with quality education to the underserved children in India.
The press release from the organisation clarified that they raised a whopping $1 million with the gala.
The gala introduced the speech from Prof. Jha highlighting the risks that the underestimation of the deaths and the infections of the virus. He further clarified during the gala that it is likely that the pandemic will continue to be unless the world has a vaccine, which is going to take another 12-18 months. The other is to develop herd immunity, which could be risky too.
Prof. Jha further highlighted the power the every single person holds in creating a beautiful future that could help the children and the families in India and also urged the attendees of the gala to support the good deed that the organisation is consistently working towards.
Another speech was delivered by Prof. Kash Rangan who teaches at the Harvard Business School and has been an avid supporter of the foundation for quite some time now. He shared his insights on the Covid-19 pandemic and the global impacts it is going to have in the years to come.
He emphasised how these kinds of situations can cause a disruption to the basic needs of humans. Akshaya Patra Foundation is working towards helping the families that are the worst hit because of this pandemic, till they are able to restore their sources of income and earn money.
Prof. Rangan also emphasised on the need for humanity to come together during such rough times and be united. He also urged the attendees to do their part in helping the foundation feed almost 5 million people every day in India. Even Indian actor Paresh Rawal and his wife made an appearance in the gala.
Rawal narrated a beautiful poem written by famous Indian poet Nida Fazli. It narrated the simple joys of a child’s life when they get to go to school.
The evening of the virtual gala was made possible because of the contribution of the sponsors and the supporters who have donated funds to the organisation to help beat hunger and lack of education in children in India. In addition to the mainstream cause of Akshaya Patra foundation, the donations of $150,000 have also come in for fighting Covid-19 and alleviating classroom hunger.
Akshaya Patra Foundation was formed in 2000 and is the largest NGO-run school meal program in the world that caters to children and the underserved sections of the society.
The organisation serves over 1.8 million children daily in over 19,000 schools in India. To sponsor a meal via this foundation, it is going to cost you a meagre $20 per year to feed one child.
