It was exactly one year ago today (27th October 2020), that Akshaya Patra opened its Watford, UK facility – our first-ever kitchen outside of India. What a wonderful first year it has been! We’d like to thank everyone who has been a part of this journey!
We have many cheerful memories to add to Akshaya Patra’s two-decades-long path to success. The accomplishments that you see now are the reflection of much hard work and the eagerness to make a difference in our world from our partners, champions, donors and fundraisers and especially the small team working hard behind the scenes at TAPF UK.
A special thanks to GMSP-FOUNDATION who have been our pillar of support in helping us set up our kitchen the way we wanted it, amidst the pandemic. We couldn’t have done it without your great support!
But today, it’s time to take a moment to reflect on our accomplishments thus far and celebrate them.
Where we started, where we’re going!
While Akshaya Patra Foundation started in India in the year 2000, our services in the UK began in 2016 when the harrowing reality of a growing and widespread child poverty crisis, here in the heart of the UK, became undeniable. We had to act.
According to an All-Party Parliamentary Group report of 2018, the UK has over 3 million children who are at risk of hunger, especially during school holidays. For these children of low-income families, the free school meal is the only guaranteed meal.
During school holidays and term breaks, these children go to bed without food or by eating highly processed and preservative-loaded food. The coronavirus has only made things worse.
In order to combat this, TAPF UK decided to set up our very own kitchen in London to produce hot, healthy meals to serve to children. From our very own kitchen in Watford, London, we produce and deliver thousands of nutritious, vegetarian, low-cost meals to children in and around London.
Just this summer 2021, we were honoured and humbled to take part in the HAF Programme where we served close to 40K meals to children vulnerable to #HolidayHunger and #FoodInsecurity. TAPF UK proudly served its surrounding boroughs by providing them with hot, healthy, nutritious meals for children attending Sport and Holiday clubs.
Additionally, we’ve served over 350K meals to the homeless and other vulnerable sections of society.
Everyone has something they want to change in the world and we want to be able to serve everyone who is suffering from food insecurity and malnutrition.
OUR CURRENT CAMPAIGNS
We run two feeding programmes in the UK which tackle food poverty among children and adults, respectively.
1) Nourish To Flourish
The Akshaya Patra Foundation UK’s flagship programme Nourish to Flourish has until now served nearly 100,000 hot, nutritious, vegetarian lunches to children at holiday clubs, council-run holiday centres and community hubs across London boroughs in the last two years. These lunches are hot, nutritious, vegetarian, and at no cost to the child.
Read more about it here – NOURISH TO FLOURISH
2) Beat Hunger
There are close to 300,000 homeless persons across England today. There are an even greater number of adults who are deprived of a basic plate of food. We aim to serve as many people who are suffering from food poverty or food insecurity here in the UK as we can.
Read more about it here – BEAT HUNGER
3) India Mid-day Meals
Our parent organisation in India feeds approximately 1.8 million hot meals in schools to children, daily.
FACT ABOUT AKSHAYA PATRA INDIA: It costs us around 7p per meal to feed a child in India. With your support and with our partnerships with various state governments across India we are able to feed a child in India for a month for just £1. Feed a school-going child in India with the power of 1.
You can also sponsor a school in India, ensuring hot, freshly prepared meals are provided to an entire school of students, daily, from £1500/year. Fill in our quick Contact Form to speak with our Donor Care Team to learn more.
We hope this has given you a sense of our work in the UK and in India, and we hope to see you again as an Akshaya Patra Ambassador or volunteer – helping us to raise awareness, funds and spread the word among your peers, colleagues, and networks. Together, we can Beat Hunger – not just today, but forever.
Cheers Everyone!
Huge Thanks always for your support – we couldn’t do our work without you.
Team TAPF UK