Bill Clinton visits Akshaya Patra Foundation’s facility in Jaipur.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: Former US President Bill Clinton visited the Akshaya Patra Foundation’s kitchen facility in Jaipur, Rajasthan on Wednesday, a momentous occasion for the India-based humanitarian organization.
Clinton made the visit as part of the Akshaya Patra’s Clinton Global Initiative entitled “Commitment to Action.” The Clinton Global Initiative was established by the former Commander-in-Chief in 2005, as a way to “convene global leaders to create solutions to the world’s most pressing global challenges,” and has grown to include more than 2,800 communities around the world, with 430 million people in over 180 countries.
“Akshaya Patra combines the execution excellence of a for-profit with the compassion of a non-profit,” Akshaya Patra USA Chairman Desh Deshpande told President Clinton and the delegates at the kitchen tour, according to a press release issued by Akshaya Patra. “If we all come together and bring our skills, our passion and our resources to bear, we can help this organization meet and surpass its goal of feeding 5 million children daily by 2020.”
Clinton shared his thoughts, too, releasing a statement about his visit to the kitchen in Jaipur.
“This CGI commitment is a very important program,” said Clinton. “The lunches served are not only healthy meals for kids, they are also tools that help to get more children into the classroom.”
Clinton was speaking about the food that is cooked in the Jaipur kitchen, which goes to feed underprivileged children throughout the region.
The Clinton Global Initiative has brought greater visibility to Akshaya Patra’s school meal program, the organization said in the release adding that awareness about Akshaya Patra and Akshaya Patra USA has grown substantially since making the Commitment to Action as part of the Clinton Global Initiative.
“Over the course of last 14 years, Akshaya Patra has developed a process whereby it can deliver a hot nutritious, tasty midday meal to 1.3 million children daily for just under 12 cents per meal. A public-private partnership, the government of India contributes half. So for only $15 a year, a donor here in the US or anywhere around the world can support a child, who is Hungry for School and eager to make it in this world,“ Emily Rosenbaum, Akshaya Patra USA CEO, said, in a statement.
Akshaya Patra runs one of the world’s largest NGO-run school meal programs and serves children in 10,600 schools across India. The meals have contributed to increased enrollment, lower attrition rates, and better student health and academic performance in the schools it serves. It employs 5,800 workers and aims to have served five million children by 2020.