Akshaya Patra USA CEO Emily Rosenbaum, Director of Development Northeast Ankita Narula\u00a0 and Director of Operations Adriana Sanchez receive the grant award announcement from Morgan Blum with Cummings Properties. (Akshaya Patra USA)<\/p>\n
Akshaya Patra receives major Cummings Foundation grant toward kitchen in Mangalore, Karnataka. \u2013 @siliconeer #siliconeer #AkshayaPatra #AkshayaPatraUSA #MealsforSchoolkids #India #education #middaymeal #cummingsfoundation #philanthropy<\/p>\n
Akshaya Patra Foundation USA is one of 100 nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 each through Cummings Foundation\u2019s \u201c$100K for 100\u201d program.\u00a0 Akshaya Patra USA was chosen from 479 applicants, during a competitive review process. Akshaya Patra is the world\u2019s largest NGO-run school meal program, and provides nutritious school meals to 1.5 million children in 11,501 schools across 10 states in India every day. Akshaya Patra USA supports this mission by raising funds and awareness for the school meal program.<\/p>\n
With the conclusion of this grant cycle, Cummings Foundation has now awarded more than $140 million to local nonprofits alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis grant will provide a tremendous boost to a key kitchen building project in Mangalore, India,\u201d noted Emily Rosenbaum, AP-USA CEO. \u201cThe 50,000 children annually who will receive hot, nutritious meals at school daily in Mangalore for decades to come will be the living legacy for the importance of this award.\u00a0 More than 30% of the malnourished children in the world live in India, and these meals in school that allow children from even the poorest families to attend school (rather than work) simultaneously reduce childhood malnutrition and pave the way for better economic opportunities for these students and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cummings Grant will support the building of a new centralized kitchen in Mangalore, Karnataka. Akshaya Patra produces fresh, nutritious meals to government schools from state-of-the-art centralized kitchen facilities.\u00a0 Akshaya Patra’s founders used their own knowledge of engineering to design immense mechanized kitchen facilities many of which are capable of preparing meals for 100,000 plus children every day.\u00a0 Akshaya Patra\u2019s custom chapati<\/i> machines can bake 60,000 chapatis<\/i> in five hours and easy-tilt cauldrons can produce 1,200 liters of rice or sambar<\/i> in just two hours.<\/p>\n
These technological innovations optimize quality and minimize cost, time and labor to ensure that the meals prepared are safe, fresh, and nutritious. All of Akshaya Patra\u2019s kitchens meet the highest standards of safety and efficiency, and ten of Akshaya Patra\u2019s kitchens have already been certified as FSMS ISO 22000:2005 compliant, which means they meet the standards of the International Food Safety Management System.\u00a0 The International Organization for Standardization established the ISO 22000 certification to ensure the safety of the global food supply chain.<\/p>\n
The \u201c$100K for 100\u201d program supports nonprofits that are not only based in, but primarily serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk cities. This year, the program is benefiting 41 cities and towns within the Commonwealth. Through this place-based initiative, Cummings Foundation aims to give back in the area where it owns commercial buildings, all of which are managed, at no cost to the Foundation, by its affiliate Cummings Properties. Founded in 1970 by Bill Cummings of Winchester, the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm leases and manages more than 10 million square feet of space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe admire and very much appreciate the important work that nonprofit organizations like Akshaya Patra USA are doing,\u201d said Joel Swets, Cummings Foundation\u2019s executive director. \u201cWe are delighted to support their efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s diverse group of grant recipients represents a wide variety of causes, including education, homelessness prevention, elder services, healthcare, and food insecurity. Most of the grants will be paid over two to five years.<\/p>\n