Chicago, IL – The Akshaya Patra Foundation held its 6th virtual gala—Leadership for Change this past Sunday evening. The total funds raised of $375,000 will provide COVID relief to migrant workers, including cooked meals, ration boxes for families, and Happiness Kits containing 30 days worth of food, hygiene products, and educational supplies to our mid-day meal beneficiaries as well as support mid-day meals for school children when schools reopen for the 2020-2021 school year.

“I am truly grateful for the massive efforts and support from our fundraisers, volunteers, chapters, and donors, who have contributed to our overall success in 2020,” said Vandana Tilak, CEO of Akshaya Patra Foundation. “Our Leadership for Change was a fantastic event, and I am thankful to our speakers for sharing their insights on how being a leader for change produces big results.”

The Leadership of Change virtual event had over 400 attendees from technology and IT professions, businesses, nonprofit and philanthropic leaders worldwide. Siva Sivaram, President of Western Digital, hosted the evening and moderated an inspiring and enlightening conversation with our speakers, John Chambers, Founder of JC2 Venture and former Executive Chairman & CEO of Cisco Systems, Nikesh Arora, Chairman & CEO of the Palo Alto Networks, and Saket Modi, Co-founder & CEO of Lucideus.

Legendary John Chambers shared his wisdom on how leaders can turn a good company into a great company by implementing good communication skills and not underestimating company culture.  Plus, he provided insight into how a company learns more from its challenges and setbacks than its successes. The dynamic Nikesh Arora stated how COVID has shown how resilient humanity can be and how technology will continue to advance and allow businesses to become more resourceful and connected. Lastly, the successful Saket Modi shared his thoughts on how Akshaya Patra is not only feeding children but fueling their hunger for knowledge through education and establishing the foundation for a better world.

The evening ended with several beautiful musical performances by the talented duo of Roopkumar & Sunali Rathod and artist Reewa. Overall, the event was full of inspiring discussions, stunning musical performances, and unforgettable moments, celebrating the beneficiaries, volunteers, chapter teams from Atlanta, Chicago, and Springfield.

Established in 2000, Akshaya Patra is the world’s largest NGO school meal program, providing hot, nutritious school lunches to over 1.8 million children in over 19,257 schools through 55 kitchens in 12 states and two Union Territories in India. It costs only $20 to feed a child for an entire school year.

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