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Sanjeev Kapoor raises $2.1 million for Akshaya Patra during tour of US
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Friday, 26 May, 2017, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Los Angeles
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After a ten-day US tour, during which he visited Boston, four cities in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, chef and recent Padma Shri recipient Sanjeev Kapoor returned to India, having spoken, auctioned signed dinner plates, gala tables and memorabilia and raised a whopping $2.1 million for Akshaya Patra.
With his wit, charm and commitment to the cause, which is dear to his heart, the chef regaled audiences everywhere with stories from his career, while bringing into focus the painful facts of hunger in India.
Kapoor spoke about his own childhood, narrating the three very different lives that his father led as he relocated to India from Pakistan after the partition. The story emphasised the point that given a chance everyone could succeed. “Everyone deserves a chance, and no child should be denied an education because of hunger,” he added.
In the Bay Area, with notable executives and dignitaries from the Silicon Valley present, he appealed to the audience to give to Akshaya Patra, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that serves 1.6 million midday meals to children in 13,200 government schools in 12 states in India.
Akshaya Patra has scaled up from serving 1,500 meals in 2002 to becoming the biggest midday meal programme in the world, operating 29 centralised, ISO-certified kitchens and transporting the food to schools within a 40km radius.
In a conversation with Kapoor at the Sanatan Dharma temple in Los Angeles, with over 300 guests present, comedian and emcee Rajiv Satyal asked, “Why Akshaya Patra?”
He replied, “My journey is about good food, and Akshaya Patra is all about food. Just like my own journey, where cooking food for my family and friends and also presenting it to millions of viewers on my television show for over 20 years, the joy of giving is much more than the joy of receiving.”
Kapoor emphasised that fact at the exclusive invitee-only dinner at the Spice Affair restaurant in Beverly Hills. With just under 100 donors present, he spoke about the circle of giving and receiving, adding that everything he has given has come back to him many times over. That is something people often miss in their busy lives.
His message to the audience was to give, because we can, and going even further, give for selfish reasons, because it feels good.
Kapoor raised over $9,25,000 within half-an-hour, auctioning off tables for Akshaya Patra’s Diwali benefit gala in Los Angeles on October 28, 2017.
Vandana Tilak, director of the Board, Akshaya Patra USA, thanked him and his wife Alyona for taking the time out of their busy schedules to support the march against hunger and going above and beyond to ensure every opportunity was explored and dedicated to serving a midday meal to children in India.
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