Akshaya Patra

Read through their website after Prof. Horn told us to look into them.  Really cool set up, not sure if we can use their system on a small scale first.

http://www.blog.akshayapatra.org/

• 3 Millennium Development Goals:
• eradicate hunger
• universal primary education
• gender gap
• focus on transparency and excellence: easier to build relationships with partners and donors
• board of trustees includes: missionaries, corporate professionals and entrepreneurs (corporate, government and NGO)
• relies on 56% donations, 36% cash subsidies and 8% grain subsidies
• *not realistic for Boston...
• Akshaya Patra makes direct link between a lack of education and food security
• President Obama commented that the innovation used in the centralized kitchens could serve as a model for "other countries" not the US?
• recognized by the Harvard Business school for innovation and ability to produce large quantity of food at such a low cost very efficiently
• an interesting and maybe revolutionary shift in the role/placement of NGOs working with government to ensure true implementation

*look into: Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows Program

*must utilize resources that are underused