NEWTON, MA-The Boston chapter of Akshaya Patra Foundation, the world’s largest NGO-run school meal program that serves hot fresh school lunches to 1.6 million children in India, is set to welcome about 500 business, non-profit, government and philanthropic leaders at its 12th annual fundraising gala on Sunday, April 15, at the Newton Marriott Hotel in Newton, MA.
This will be the first Boston gala organized under the leadership of newly-appointed Akshaya Patra USA CEO Vandana Tilak
“(It) will definitely be different. The Chapter team has embraced the new organizational structure and are working as a team, increasing efficiency, increasing visibility for the event and for Akshaya Patra,” Ms. Tilak told INDIA New England News. “Three additional events have been organized around the gala dates by the Boston team.”
She said gala attendees can expect to see a smoother program flow, and can hear from Shridhar Venkat, Akshaya Patra India’s dynamic CEO.
“Although we firmly believe in and deliver on our fund raising goals and expectations, we refrain from declaring them as a policy,” said Ms. Tilak. “The chapter team of course will be given these numbers during the debrief meeting after the gala in 2 weeks time. As an aspirational goal, our CEO’s would love to meet each and every one during the course of the evening.”
For an earlier video interview with Ms. Tilak, please click here or on the video below.
For the third year, the Akshaya Patra Foundation USA-organized fundraising gala has sold out for its Annual Boston Benefit Gala.
Former President of Trader Joe’s, Doug Rauch will be the event’s keynote speaker. Comedian and actor Omi Vaidya of the Bollywood blockbuster ‘Three Idiots’ fame, will serve as the event’s Master of Ceremonies. Special guests for this event will be Desh Deshpande, Chairman for TAPF, USA; Shridhar Venkat, CEO of TAPF India; and Vandana Tilak, CEO of TAPF, USA. Like every year, this year’s event will feature an evening of networking, entertainment, and dinner.
Akshaya Patra is the world’s largest NGO-run school meal program and serves hot fresh school lunches to 1.6 million children in 13,839 schools from 34 kitchen facilities in 12 states in India. Akshaya Patra USA is the US branch of Akshaya Patra and raises funds and awareness for the school meal program in India. The Akshaya Patra Foundation USA has Volunteer Chapters in cities across the United States that hold fundraising and awareness events for the organization. The Boston Volunteer Chapter is the oldest Chapter and was established in 2006.
The Akshaya Patra Foundation USA’s Boston Volunteer Chapter is led by the Chapter Committee Co-Chairs—Bela Chandhok, Ravi Sakhuja, Rakesh Kamdar, Urvashi Bhatia, Ajita Bhat, Ameeta Mehta, Rajeev Jain, and Rekha Gopalan—and supported by the media sponsors (Manju Sheth and Upendra Mishra) and Committee Members.
The Chapter Committee Members are Dr. Apurv Gupta, Dr. Megha Scarff, Dr. Vinay Kumar, Santhana Krishnan, Mahesh Goyal, Dr. Smita Patel, Dr. Kanu Patel, Rama Neti, Praveen Thailam, Rohil Chandhok, Priya Samant, Dr. Anand Kanjolia, Subhashish Acharya, Dr. Supria Rao, , Jean Patel Bushnell, Ajita Bhat, Murli Kudlugi, Chandu Shah, Shridhar Kulkarni, Latha Mangipudi, Poonam Kamdar, Latha Rao, Sena Desai, Yoshika Sherring, Samantha Ganglani, Shobha Donti, Namita Singh, Sundar Narasimhan, Dr. Deepa Jhaveri, Sowmya Suneel, Shobha Donti, Sundar Narasimhan, Marie Lamb, Samantha, Anjan Mehta, Kedar Gupta, Dr. Meena Mehta, Suraj Kapoor, and Lovely Kaur.Volunteer manager, Ajita Bhat. Assistant volunteer manager, Urvashi Bhatia and AP community ambassador, Manju sheth.
Akshaya Patra has received international recognition for its life-changing mission. In 2016, Akshaya Patra’s Founder Madhu Pandit Dasa received the Padma Shri Award, India’s fourth highest civilian award, for his work with Akshaya Patra. Shridhar Venkat, CEO of Akshaya Patra India, was recognized as being among the 50 Most Impactful Social Innovators in the world. Akshaya Patra was recently awarded the Nikkei Asia Prize, an award established to recognize an organization’s outstanding achievements that contribute to the region’s sustainable development. Akshaya Patra is the subject of best-selling authoress Rashmi Bansal’s recently published book God’s Own Kitchen. For more information about Akshaya Patra, please visit www.foodforeducation.org.
For more information about Akshaya Patra please visit www.foodforeducation.org
For more information about the event: Ankita Narula at Ankita@apusa.org or 781-454-7247.
