Mumbai, India: Akshaya Chaitanya and Reliance Foundation are working towards tackling hunger as vulnerability in Mumbai, by serving food to children in municipal schools, as well as to families of patients in public hospitals of the city.
The initiative aims to address the lack of nutrition during formative years of life in underprivileged children. It also hopes to lower the struggles of families of patients from vulnerable sections of the society by making hygienically prepared food available at government hospitals.
“By serving food to people who cannot access it easily, we want to ensure the wellbeing of all. We did this extensively through our network of partners after the pandemic struck. The initiative with Akshaya Chaitanya is to carry that forward significantly,” said Jagannatha Kumar, CEO, Reliance Foundation.
Reliance Foundation has been supporting various nutrition initiatives including setting up more than 1 lakh Reliance Nutrition Gardens, which are compact spaces in rural households, where vegetable and fruit can be cultivated.
“Reliance Foundation’s support to Akshaya Chaitanya’s feeding initiatives is a boost to the mission to fight hunger in Mumbai. We used to serve six hospitals and 41 municipal schools in Mumbai before Reliance Foundation extended support. We now serve breakfast, lunch and dinner meals across 19 government hospitals and 102 municipal schools,” said Vikas Parchhanda, CEO, Akshaya Chaitanya. He also expressed his gratitude to the employees of Reliance who have been volunteering in this initiative.
The initiative will help children like 8-year-old Rukaiya get the required nutrition, lack of which is a roadblock to education and dreams of a better future. Rukaiya lives in the slums of Daarukhana and studies in a municipal school in Byculla. She wants to become a doctor. Orphaned at a very young age, the child is being cared for by her grandmother who can barely provide for her.
By 2025, Akshaya Chaitanya envisions serving 1 lakh vulnerable adults and children like Rukaiya every day in Mumbai.
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