CSR: Deutsche Bank and NGO Akshaya Patra distribute 40,000 Happiness Kits to Govt. school children
Deutsche Bank and The Akshaya Patra Foundation announced the distribution of 40,000 ‘Happiness Kits’ to government school children in the cities of Bangalore and Jaipur. With schools remaining closed for over six months now due to the pandemic, these children have been deprived of their classroom activity as well as the mid-day meal they would otherwise have been served in school.
This CSR initiative, aimed at ensuring that school children do not lose out on nutrition or their education, also marks 40 years since Deutsche Bank set up its first branch in the country in Mumbai. The Bank began its partnership with The Akshaya Patra Foundation in 2014 and over the last six years has supported the latter’s mid-day meal programme across Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur and Ajmer. During this period, the Bank has supported the provision of close to 70 million mid-day meals to government school children through Akshaya Patra Foundation.
The happiness kits contains dry ration, spices, nutritional items like jaggery and peanuts, education material and toiletries for one child for up to one month.
“Adequate nutrition and a basic education need to be seen as a fundamental right for children without which, their ability to grow into productive members of society in later years is impacted,” said Kaushik Shaparia, Chief Country Officer, Deutsche Bank India. “I am glad that our CSR partnership with Akshaya Patra Foundation is working towards addressing this challenge.”
“Hidden hunger is real and to see our people not afford two square nutritious meals a day is a travesty to say the least. With the benevolence of Deutsche Bank corporate social responsibility which has contributed generously towards this worthy cause, we have served 2 million meals to those deprived, as part of our Covid-19 food relief effort,” said Shridhar Venkat, CEO, The Akshaya Patra Foundation.
Deutsche Bank and Akshaya Patra Foundation have been working very closely together since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic to support large sections of marginalised groups, daily wage earners and economically challenged people. The support from Deutsche Bank CSR helped fund 2 million meals across Delhi, Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Silvassa and Vadodara.
In recent years, Deutsche Bank has also supported Akshaya Patra Foundation’s mid-day meal programme – the world’s largest – by sponsoring food delivery vans, the construction of a meal kitchen in Ajmer and a reverse osmosis plant and boiler in Mangalore, among others.
Disclaimer: This media release is auto-generated. The CSR Journal is not responsible for the content
