PSA India Aids Akshaya Patra’s Fight Against Hunger, Sponsors Over 5,000 School Meals

* PSA India’s donation will help serve 5,333 meals to government school children in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu for a year and provide Family Happiness Kits to 1,666 families in West Bengal

Continuing their pre-Covid alliance to fight hunger, PSA India, a leading global port operator and cargo solutions provider, and The Akshaya Patra Foundation have once again come together to feed the needy. PSA India will sponsor meals for school-going children from underprivileged communities and ration kits for needy families.

Aiding Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal programme, which is one of the largest such initiatives run by any NGO, PSA India’s Rs 1.08 crore donation will help serve 5,333 hot, nutritious meals to government school children from underprivileged communities in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu for a year. Additionally, this partnership will provide Family Happiness Kits to 1,666 families in West Bengal. These kits contain food essentials, basic hygiene products and stationery items.

Extolling the collaboration that fulfills a common goal, Mr. Gobu Selliaya, Managing Director, PSA India, said, “We are delighted to renew our association with Akshaya Patra following our first involvement at the end of 2019. We support their mid-day meal programme and Family Happiness Kits initiative as part of PSA India’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme. Akshaya Patra is a leading NGO which is making an invaluable contribution supporting the health and nutrition of children across the nation and it already provides over 1.8 million lunchtime meals for children.  It is active in every state in which PSA India operates - namely Gujarat (PSA Honeycomb), Maharashtra (PSA Ameya and PSA Mumbai), Delhi NCR (PSA Cargo Solutions India), Tamil Nadu (PSA Chennai and PSA Sical) and West Bengal (PSA Kolkata). Along with our CSR initiatives in those locations, we are very pleased to contribute towards the outstanding work done by the foundation.”

PSA India has had a long-standing and enriching relationship with Akshaya Patra. In 2019, PSA India donated Rs 14 lakh that helped serve food to 1,273 beneficiary children in Bangalore for an entire year. In 2020, PSA India supported Akshaya Patra’s Breakfast Program with a donation of Rs 5 lakh that helped TAPF distribute hot and nutritious meals to 455 beneficiary children studying in government schools in Chennai. 

Appreciating the partnership, Mr. Sundeep Talwar, CMO, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, said, “We are immensely grateful to PSA India for their generous donation as this will help India and us fight age-old maladies like hunger and malnutrition. Their unrelenting efforts in joining us in our mission will go a long way to usher in a brighter, healthier future. Our mission is not just aimed at feeding school children. We want to contribute to their all-around development. Our aim to provide them with the nutrition they require to live well and develop can only be achieved through partnerships like these.”

PSA India’s CSR activities for the past year has focused mainly on providing education to the needy and on Covid-19 relief. PSA India has arranged for hostels for girls from remote villages, day care for disabled children, essentials for schools; it has also set up hospital beds and made provisions for oxygen concentrators and necessary medicines to critical Covid-affected patients.

About PSA India

PSA India is a subsidiary of PSA International (PSA), a leading port group and trusted partner to cargo stakeholders. With flagship operations in Singapore and Antwerp, PSA’s global network encompasses over 50 locations in 26 countries around the world. The Group’s portfolio comprises more than 60 deepsea, rail and inland terminals, as well as affiliated businesses in distriparks, warehouses and marine services. Drawing on the deep expertise and experience from a diverse global team, PSA actively collaborates with its customers and partners to deliver world-class port services alongside, develop innovative cargo solutions and co-create an Internet of Logistics.

PSA is an early participant of India’s privatisation program in the container terminal sector with the first investment in Tuticorin Container Terminal in 1998, followed by subsequent investments in container terminals in Chennai (2007), Kolkata (2014) and Navi Mumbai (2014). In 2021, PSA India extended its range of service offerings with investments into Ameya Logistcs (Mumbai) and Honeycomb Logistics (Mundra) CFS.

About The Akshaya Patra Foundation

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that strives to address classroom hunger and malnutrition in India. As the implementing partner of the Government of India’s flagship school feeding programme, through its relentless commitment to creating a secure and educated future, the Akshaya Patra has grown from serving just 1,500 children in 5 schools in 2000 to over 1.8 million children in 19,039 government and government-aided schools from its 61 kitchens across 14 States and 2 Union Territories. Through this scheme, Akshaya Patra aims to fight hunger and, at the same time, bring children to school.

Since 2000, Akshaya Patra has worked towards reaching out to children with wholesome food every single school day. The Foundation is continuously leveraging technology to cater to millions of children.

As part of its Covid-19 relief efforts, in 19 states and 4 UTs, the foundation has served over 24.04 crore meals since March 2020 in the form of freshly cooked food and food relief kits with essential groceries. Akshaya Patra has also organized free vaccination drives for the underprivileged.