A Bengaluru-based NGO has achieved the feat of serving 2 Billion Meals to school children in 16 years. 

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, in partnership with the Government of India and state governments, has been providing mid-day meals to the government schools since the year 2000.

To commemorate the serving of two billion meals of the foundation, President Pranab Mukherjee will attend an event in Bengaluru on Saturday Aug 27,2016

Ensuring a different menu for lunch every day, hygienic conditions in kitchens and on-time delivery in government schools, the NGO has been focused on fighting hunger and malnutrition in India.

Chanchalapathi Dasa, Vice-Chairman, Akshaya Patra, told how the growth of the venture had taken them by surprise.

“We started in a small way, serving 1500 children and that time we didn’t have an idea it would turn into such a big programme.

We started receiving requests from other schools to provide food there. It struck us then that how much a meal means to these children and their families who we all take for granted,” he said.

Mohandas Pai, one of the key supporters of the programme, said, “We are seeing a rise of a generation that will be well-nourished and well-educated and that is good for India. Akshaya Patra has a dream of feeding 5 million children by 2020.
We are putting kitchens in place to accomplish this dream.”
Over the years, Akshaya Patra has become the world’s largest non-profit-run programme.