During the 2013 Joy of Giving week, which started from October 2, Akshaya Patra partnered with various organisations, schools and colleges to conduct 'Giving activities' to not only boost our resources but also create awareness about The Akshaya Patra Foundation through various avenues. For the Joy of Giving week, various activities including kind donations were organised in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
In one of its kind campaign, not only a corporate company but even students, faculties and staff of various schools and premier institutes in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar took the lead in supporting the Akshaya Patra's 'Nourish India-Dal by Dal' campaign, where they organised dal collection drive on their campus during the Joy of Giving Week from October 2-8. The entire activity in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Delhi helped Akshaya Patra with an in-kind donation of 3992 kg of Dal.
In Delhi, Wood Group PSN, a division of Wood Group, one of the largest providers of brownfield services to the oil and gas industry, in Gurgaon donated 250 kg of Dal for Akshaya Patra’s Vrindavan kitchen.
Educational institutions and schools of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar joined hands with The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF) to support the feeding of students attending government and municipal schools.
Akshaya Patra, running the world's largest NGO-managed mid-day meal programme requires 5,175,000 kg of Dal to feed 13 lakh under-privileged children for a year. For every 4 kg of Toovar/Toor Dal contributed, Akshaya Patra can feed a child for one entire year.
During the 7-day dal donation drive, students, faculties and staff from 10 premier institutes and schools collected and donated 3742 kg of dal to The Akshaya Patra Foundation, which works nationwide in India to end hunger of underserved children to facilitate their education.
In Gujarat, the Foundation is reaching out to around 4 lakh children through 1653 government schools every day from its 3 kitchens, located in Gandhinagar, Surat and Vadodara.
Students from institutes like National Institute of Fashion Technology-Gandhinagar, Gujarat National Law University, Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and National Institute of Design (Paldi and Gandhinagar campus) took the lead in motivating the students, faculties and staff on the campus to donate as much as dal possible towards the cause. Students of NIFT-Gandhinagar performed a special Nukkad-Natak on their campus to promote dal campaign on their campus.
Matching the college-going and professional students were the school students from Udgam School for Children, St Kabir School, Podar International School and tiny-tots of three campuses of Anand Niketan School in Bodakdev, Thaltej and Bhadaj, who were charged-up to support children, for whom Dal is a special and nutritious dish to relish.