The Akshaya Patra Foundation – Christmas Donation Update

Date: 23/04/2021

The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF) is an NGO originally established to eliminate classroom hunger in India. Since its founding in 2000, TAPF’s Midday Meal Scheme has grown from feeding 1,500 children across 5 schools to serving hot vegetarian meals to 1.8 million children across India every school day. Their mission is to solve for nutrition, not for hunger, and as an ethos, only vegetarian meals are prepared and distributed.

Since 2018, TAPF has also been tackling hunger among children in the UK, serving almost 50,000 hot holiday meals to children in holiday clubs across Greater London.

In order to support those most socially and economically marginalised by the COVID-19 pandemic, 50% of the budget which had originally been set aside for the NextEnergy Capital Hyderabad (India) office Christmas 2020 festivities was donated to TAPF. This was supplemented by additional support from the NextEnergy Foundation to reach beneficiaries in both India and the UK. Between December and March, NextEnergy Capital’s and NextEnergy Foundation’s grants enabled TAPF to cook, package and distribute 10,000 hot meals through distribution points in Kentish Town, Camden Town, Trafalgar Square and King’s Cross in London, and distribute 1,666 Happiness Kits to children and their families across Nathdwara, India.