SURYA LAUNCHES FIFTH ANNUAL MILES FOR MEALS CAMPAIGN
Funds raised will provide education and nutrition for children living in the company's artisan communities
CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — September 2, 2016 — 
Surya has kicked off its fifth annual Miles for Meals fundraising initiative. The campaign, which runs through Oct. 31, 2016, supports
Akshaya Patra (Unlimited Food for Education), an award-winning school lunch program that provides daily, hot nutritious meals to underserved children living in rural India
, encouraging them to attend school and complete their education.
As part of the campaign – and the inspiration for the "Miles for Meals" name – Surya employees, friends and family members will run a half marathon in Atlanta on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016, to raise funds and awareness for the program. Employees will also participate in team fundraising projects, which have in the past included car washes, craft and bake sales, a ping pong tournament and an international-themed luncheon.
"Too often, impoverished families living in remote areas in Northern India feel they have no other option but to pull their children from school to help put food on the table," said Satya Tiwari, president, Surya. "As a result, these children are denied the chance for an education and hope for a brighter future. Akshaya Patra is removing obstacles to education one meal – and one child – at a time, making a lasting impact in communities that previously had little or no chance of moving beyond poverty. We are excited to kick off our fifth annual Miles for Meals campaign."
Surya created the Miles for Meals campaign in 2012, sparked by the desire to help improve the lives of children and their families living in Uttar Pradesh, India, where the company's more than 50,000 artisans reside. Surya has already raised over $215,000 for the internationally-recognized lunch program, which serves a freshly prepared hot meal every day to 1.6 million children throughout India. The fundraising goal for this year's campaign is $75,000, which will provide lunchtime meals for 5,000 children in Northern India for one year.
Surya President Satya Tiwari joined the Akshaya Patra USA advisory board in 2015 to help expand the reach and impact of the school lunch program. Other advisory board members include Deepak Chopra, founder, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing; Fareed Zakaria, author, journalist and host of CNN’s “GPS”; and Nitin Nohria, dean, Harvard Business School.
Donations to Surya’s Miles for Meals campaign are tax-deductible and can be made through Oct. 31, 2016, via the following site:
www.razoo.com/us/story/Surya-Miles-For-Meals-Campaign-2016. It costs just $15 to feed one child for an entire year.
View
photos of some of the children who are benefitting from the Akshaya Patra school lunch program.
To learn more about Akshaya Patra and Surya’s commitment to social responsibility, visit
www.surya.com/social-responsibility.
About Akshaya Patra
The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a secular non-profit organization in a public private partnership with the Indian government, implements the world's largest NGO managed mid-day meal program. Akshaya Patra began as a pilot program feeding 1,500 children daily in five schools. Driven by the vision of its founders and Board members, Akshaya Patra currently feeds hot lunches to more than 1.6 million children each day and has set an aggressive goal of serving 5 million children by 2020. Akshaya Patra has a team of more than 5,800 employees who prepare and distribute the meals. To learn more, visit
www.foodforeducation.org.