INVC NEWS
Bengaluru,
An event showcasing the beneficiaries of Akshaya Patra’s“Giving Every Dream a Chance”—a special initiative to nurture children with unique dreams was held at Taj Yeshwantpur, Bangalore. The Foundation started this initiative with the conviction that every 
child has a dream; each dream is valid – for their dreams, thoughts, and aspirations make these children what they are. It is the Foundation’s humble attempt to identify children with special dreams and give them the opportunity to realise these dreams.
The event also marked the launch of the mascot of “SwachhVidyarthi, SwachhVidyalaya, SwachhGruha” – an initiative by Akshaya Patra to achieve Swachh Bharat. The mascot is named ‘Sunny’ and the two child characters associated with the campaign are namedBhoomi and Akash.
The event was graced by Padma Shri HonoreeShri D. R.Kaarthikeyan, Advisor- Law Human Rights – Corporate Affairs and former Director General of National Human Rights Commission, Director of CBI, Special Director General CRPF as the Chief Guest.
Other guests of honour at the event in support of the initiative were Mr Roberto Narain – Head of Drumjam, Mrs Vasundhara Das – Singer, Actress, Composer, lyricist, Entrepreneur and Environmental Activist,Mrs Mayuri Upadhya – Co-Founder and Director of Nritarutya Dance, Arjun Halappa – former captain of the Indian Hockey Team, and a galaxy of stars from the film and entertainment industry namely Suraj Gowda, Meghna Gaonkar, Dhananjay, Shruthi Hariharan, Samyukta Hornad,Vashista N Simha, Sonu Gowda, Ragini Dwivedi, Navdeep, Naveen, Arun Sagar,and Rajshri Ponnappa.
The event was presided by Shri Madhu Pandit Dasa – Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation in the presence of Shri Chanchalapati Dasa – Vice Chairman, The AkshayaPatra Foundation, and the unit presidents of AkshayaPatra kitchens across the country.
Starting with three children, ‘Giving Every Dream a Chance’ as an initiative has scaled up to mentormore than 300 children from 15 Government Schools in Bengaluru, Hubballi, Hyderabad, and Vrindavan.Taking due note of their passion, Akshaya Patra supported these children with mentorship programs, wherein they were coached, groomed,
and guided by the experts of their respective fields. These children were provided training in various fields, including Dance, Theatre, Origami, Math, Science, English, and Football.
On the occasion, Shri Madhu Pandit Dasa said, “We are grateful to the Chief Guest and the Guests of Honour for gracing the event as a sign of support to the initiative. Giving Every Dream a Chance took shape in 2016 as a pilot project with three children. The success of the pilot encouraged us to expand the initiative to 4 locations where we provided mentorship to over 300 children in areas of their interest. This occasion is to join hands to support these children to continue and pursue their dreams till they achieve it. This is also an occasion to say it is just a step forward – there are million more dreams to be given a chance.I would like to thank the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, The Government of Karnataka, and all State Governments for supporting and encouraging us in our every endeavour.”
Shri Chanchalapathi Dasa expressed,“The Akshaya Patra Foundation harbours on the principle to nurture dreams of its beneficiary children and provide the right path to accomplish anything they aspire. To implement this resolution, in 2015-16, the Foundation took a step beyond the mid-day meals and started the project, ‘Giving Every Dream a Chance’ – our attempt to identify children with special dreams and give them the opportunity to realise it. Starting with just three children, the initiative has grown to provide mentorship to more than 300 children and we plan to scale it up to 5000 children in 2018-19. We are truly grateful to Chef Ramasamy Selvaraju Priya Viswanathan of Taj Yeshwantpur for supporting the initiative from the beginning.”
