Amid the ever-busy city of Mumbai, dwells a section of people who struggle from the basics to the most crucial, i.e., food to healthcare. We interact with this section of people almost at every point during the day, yet we are so caught up with our own lives that we miss to pay heed to their needs. This is where NGOs play a vital role, not only in supporting the needy, but also in giving us a platform to get engaged and do good for the society. Akshaya Chaitanya is one such NGO in Mumbai.
Akshaya Chaitanya is an initiative of HKM Charitable Foundation with the objective to achieve a hunger-free Mumbai. Our vision is, “To open up a world of opportunities for every vulnerable by ensuring food security.” For this we aim to “provide food to one lakh beneficiaries everyday across different vulnerable situations in Mumbai by 2025.”
We began our journey of ensuring food security by giving food for free to needy people in government hospitals in Mumbai. A step into Mumbai’s government hospitals will leave you overwhelmed at how family members turn a deaf ear to their hunger growls, just so that they can save on food cost and utilise the savings to meet treatment cost. To support food needs of such poor people, we introduced our flagship Hospital Feeding Programme in July 2021.
Highlights of Hospital feeding in Mumbai
Provide freshly prepared, nutritious meals to out-patients and family members of in-patients in public hospitals in Mumbai, free of cost
Meals are prepared at our FSSAI compliant, state-of-the-art kitchen in Byculla, Mumbai
Locally palatable cyclic menu is followed to ensure variety in taste and complete nutrition
The meal consists of rice, and a variety of pulses and vegetables
Progress so far
1,55,016 cumulative meals served
1,920 beneficiaries served daily
5 government hospitals are catered to everyday
Impact of free food in public hospitals in Mumbai
Patients in government hospitals hail from challenging socio-economic backgrounds. They shell out every penny to meet treatment cost including borrowing money from friends and relatives or taking loans from money lenders. The burden of meeting hospital expenses compels them to even give up on buying food for themselves. So, every time you donate food to poor, this is how you make a difference in their life:
Recent Developments
We have recently initiated School Meal Programme to ensure underprivileged children receive their share of nutritious meals. For this, we have partnered with an NGO providing education to underprivileged children through their School on Wheels Programme. Every day, we provide free, nutritious lunch to around 640 children aged between 6 and 14 years in 3 School on Wheels.
In addition, we also plan to expand hospital feeding in Mumbai to benefit needy people in more government hospitals.
Support our Endeavour
We need your support to make hunger-free Mumbai a reality. Donate generously and spread the word too, so that together we can provide food to needy people across the city.
Note: All contributions above ₹500 are eligible for tax exemption as per 80G Deduction of the Income Tax Act.