Comedian Omi Vaidya will be the Master of Ceremonies at event.
AB Wire
New age guru and author Dr. Deepak Chopra will headline Akshaya Patra Foundation’s inaugural benefit in New Jersey, on August 20 at the TV Asia headquarters in Edison, New Jersey.
Chopra will be the event’s keynote speaker. Comedian Omi Vaidya will act as the event’s Master of Ceremonies.
Chopra has authored more than 80 books translated in over 43 languages, including 22 New York Times bestsellers. His medical training is in internal medicine and endocrinology, and he is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and an adjunct professor of Executive Programs at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
He is also a Distinguished Executive Scholar at Columbia Business School, Columbia University, and a Senior Scientist at the Gallup organization. For more than a decade, he has participated as a lecturer at the Update in Internal Medicine, an annual event sponsored by Harvard Medical School’s Department of Continuing Education and the Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Chopra was named by TIME magazine as one of the top heroes and icons of the 21st century, and is lauded as the “the poet-prophet of alternative medicine”. He founded the Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad, California. He is a member of the Akshaya Patra USA Advisory Board.
Vaidya is one of the few actors and filmmakers working in Hollywood and Bollywood. A graduate of NYU’s Film School, he started as a video editor on independent films and went on to direct short films that have won awards at film festivals worldwide. His work in front of the camera includes memorable characters on American TV shows like The Office, Arrested Development, Bones, Growing up Fischer, and The Comeback. In Bollywood, Omi made his major debut in Aamir Khan’s film, ‘Three Idiots’, which became the biggest Indian box office success of all time.
Over 350 business, non-profit, government, and philanthropic leaders from around the region are expected to attend and support the organization’s dual mission of addressing childhood hunger and malnutrition and to promote education for underserved children in India.
Established in 2000, Akshaya Patra began by serving 1,500 in five schools in Bangalore. Today, Akshaya Patra is the largest NGO-run school meal programs in the world and serves over 1.5 million children daily in over 11,501 schools through 24 kitchens in ten states in India.
This year Akshaya Patra is celebrating its 15th anniversary and the serving of its two billionth meal to children in India. Akshaya Patra USA is the US branch of Akshaya Patra and raises funds and awareness for the school meal program in India.
Akshaya Patra has received international recognition for its life-changing mission. In 2016, Akshaya Patra’s Founder Madhu Pandit Dasa received the Padma Shri Award, India’s fourth highest civilian award, for his work with Akshaya Patra. Shridhar Venkat, CEO of Akshaya Patra India, was recognized as being among the 50 Most Impactful Social Innovators in the world. Akshaya Patra was recently awarded the Nikkei Asia Prize, an award established to recognize an organization’s outstanding achievements that contribute to the region’s sustainable development.
This year’s event will feature an evening of networking, entertainment, and dinner.