By Shyamal Randeria-Leonard
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Former president of Mexico Vicente Fox and celebrated author Dr. Deepak Chopra promoted their global vision of compassion and giving while being honored for their support for Akshaya Patra by its USA Foundation CEO, Emily Rosenbaum, and Los Angeles chapter chair Vandana Tilak here at the Long Beach Renaissance Hotel Jan. 31.
The Indian NGO’s vision that no child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger, has succeeded for over a decade in providing via daily delivery of “freshly prepared nutritious meals to schools across India for as little as 11 cents per day,” said Rosenbaum.
Acknowledging the dilemma of poverty in his well-received keynote speech and in an earlier VIP press conference led by member Michelle Mehta, Fox supported Akshaya Patra’s goals and highlighted its “profound” professionalism and efficient “capacity to deliver” which he witnessed first-hand on his visit to the nonprofit’s site in India as part of a 2014 business trip with UST Global, an IT solutions company.
Nothing compares to the factories, distribution centers, the schools, and the nutritious food which help build successful human beings, Fox said fervently.
“Nobody is born to be poor in this world, every single human being has extraordinary capacities, we can all not only dream about doing great things but also be part of building a better world.”
Fox aligned with the organization through his involvement with the Chopra Foundation’s annual Sages and Scientists conferences where he was introduced to the nonprofit’s board chairman, Desh Deshpande.
Chopra, who is part of Akshaya Patra USA’s Advisory Board, backed the organization due to not only his friendship with Deshpande, but also because the group symbolized “compassion, creativity and innovation.”
The act of giving is related to self-awareness, and understanding that we are part of an eco-system, said Chopra. The best way to find self-awareness is through expression of compassion, joy and equanimity which is also correlated to our wellbeing and is inclusive of community wellbeing.
The Chopra Foundation committed to a $50,000 donation to Akshaya Patra’s current goal of serving 5 million children by 2020. To date, it serves approximately 1.3 million children in over 9,000 schools from 19 technologically advanced regional kitchens, explained Rosenbaum.
A medical doctor by profession, the controversial spokesman of alternative medicine and secular spirituality also discussed the brain and its societal impact: “Our mid-brain, or reptilian brain does not have an emotional life,” Chopra said, and “today our world is being run by it versus the limbic brain, the mammalian brain which is capable of love.”
Akshaya Patra’s USA Foundation, which is the fund raising arm of the group, raises 10% of India’s operating budget of $38 million for the mid-day meal program in India. Ninety percent of the requirements are met by Indian funds in a public-private partnership in which the Indian government meets 65% of its overall needs, added Rosenbaum, who began serving as CEO in 2013.
In her speech, Rosenbaum not only laid bare the anguish she encountered in India by the swath of destitution, but also echoed Deshpande’s quote on the nonprofit’s business model as “the execution of a for profit with the compassion of a nonprofit.”
Master of ceremonies and humorist Rajeev Satyal entertained the approximately 500 guests and introduced the various speakers including Raj Shah and later his father Manu Shah.
Teenager Vinaini Jayasinghe of SavitriArtsAcademy provided an introductory dance movement piece while Arjun Tarsadia, 11, of the Tarsadia Foundation, a supporter of non-profit organizations, joined Tara Mandal, 13, youth ambassador for UNICEF and granddaughter of Chopra, as each provided moving calls to action for assistance.
Chapter chair Vandana Tilak closed the evening by thanking the guests and volunteers while echoing the nonprofit’s mantra of simple gift giving: “Just $15 a month can feed a child for an entire year.”
For more information on Akshaya Patra please visit Foodforeducation.org.
This story originally appeared in India West.