BOSTON – The Akshaya Patra Boston Chapter announced the transition of current Chapter Chair Rakesh Kamdar to be an Advisory Board member. Mr. Kamdar will be succeeded by four new Co-Chairs, Ajita Bhat, Anjan Mehta, Venkat Kolluri and Chandu Shah.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to work as a Chair of Akshaya Patra in Boston for over seven years and raising funds for Akshaya Patra’s children. Akshaya Patra is a family-activity for us. We have thoroughly enjoyed organizing annual galas, CEO Forum, and other events [all] while meeting amazing individuals and families thanks to our committee and the community at large,” said Mr. Kamdar. “This year, we held our first-ever virtual gala, which raised over $1 million and is a key flagship event for our Boston Chapter. It’s important to transition over the leadership to bring in new ideas and ways of raising funds while expanding the types of events we hold. It will be with great pleasure to serve as an advisor to the new incoming Co-Chairs.”
Akshaya Patra USA has over 30 chapters in major cities throughout the US. The Boston Chapter was established in 2006 and is the oldest Chapter in the US. Since its inception, the Boston Chapter has been blessed with a supportive and generous donor base throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island. The Boston Chapter remains dedicated and ambitious, with its most recent accomplishment of holding the first-ever virtual gala raising over $1 million.
Here brief bios of Boston Chapter New Co-Chairs:
Ajita Bhat
Ajita has been with Akshaya Patra for the past ten years and is passionate about the cause. For the past years, she has been the Volunteer Manager of the Boston chapter and currently hosts the women’s club. In her free time, she likes to go on hikes and spends time with horticulture.
Besides Akshayapatra, Ajita spends her time working for other NGOs as well.
Anjan Mehta
Anjan and his wife Ameeta have been in the Boston area since 1980 and are active members of the AP Boston Chapter for the past eight years. Anjan is an active Board Member, Investor with a Management role in Early to mid-Stage VC and PE-backed Life Sciences Companies.
Anjan was born in Mandvi Kutchh, Gujrat. Anjan and Ameeta are planning to be “snow-birds” in Orlando, FL area.
Venkat Kolluri
Venkat is the Founder and CEO at Cidewalk.com, a premium mobile advertising and text message marketing company. Venkat also co-founded Chitika, Inc., the parent
company of Cidewalk and Krosslink.Org, an entrepreneurial program empowering public libraries intending to help nurture and develop aspiring entrepreneurs across 10,000 US Public Libraries by 2025.
Venkat serves as a member of the WPI Data Science Advisory Board. In 2015, Venkat was nominated for the ILC Immigrant Entrepreneur of the Year Award and recognized as the MetroWest Top 10 to Watch by WBJ journal. Venkat received from TiE Boston the Crystal Award for a Charter Member who built his company from the ground up and the TiE Star award for leadership. Venkat holds a Ph.D. from University of Pittsburgh.
Chandu Shah
Chandu is the President and CEO of an Aero-Space Defense firm S4 Inc. Supporting US Government, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Defense Customers. S4 Inc. has been named the fastest-growing private company in America by Boston Business Journal (BBJ) and Inc. 500/5000. Chandu was named the state of Massachusetts Minority Business Person of the year in 2007.
Chandu is also a poet, playwright, and a filmmaker. He has been part of Bollywood movies and has produced independent American films. His short film was the winner of the National Award for the Best Experimental Film in 1982. He has been associated with Akshaya Patra Boston Chapter for over ten years.
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.
In response to COVID-19, Akshaya Patra has provided over 78 million meals served in 28 cities to migrant workers and their families and supplies Happiness Boxes, which contains 30 days’ worth of food, hygiene products, educational supplies for our mid-day meal beneficiaries. For more infomration, visit https://foodforeducation.org/
