Akshaya Patra-inspired initiative highlights challenge of food insecurity among US college students

Addressing the event at the Consulate, co-founder and Vice Chairman of the Akshaya Patra Foundation and the World Food Movement Sri Chanchalapathi Dasa said students across communities in the US should not be struggling to choose between food and education.

A global food initiative, inspired by the Akshaya Patra Foundation, has highlighted the need to combat the challenge of food insecurity among college students in the US, and called on the Indian-American diaspora to extend their support. The Consulate General of India in New York, in collaboration with the World Food Movement (WFM), hosted a special event titled 'No One Hungry' here on Monday. The World Food Movement, a US-based not-for-profit organisation, had in September last year launched an initiative to provide hot nutritious meals to students in New York, New Jersey, Boston and California across community colleges with a target of serving one million meals annually across the US by 2030. Addressing the event at the Consulate, co-founder and Vice Chairman of the Akshaya Patra Foundation and the World Food Movement Sri Chanchalapathi Dasa said students across communities in the US should not be struggling to choose between food and education. Dasa cited data to point out that about 41 per cent of students experience food insecurity in college campuses in the US. The data, collected from over 74,000 students from 91 institutions in the country, also found that over half of structurally disadvantaged groups went hungry at college campuses. ''Seeing all of this, hearing all of this, we incorporated the World Food Movement as a charity to address food insecurity primarily in college campuses and also in certain food insecure communities,'' he said. The World Food Movement currently serves three community colleges each in New York City and New Jersey, two community colleges in the suburbs of Boston, seven community college campuses in the Bay area and provides about 1800 meals to elementary school kids in Virginia, totalling about 3700 meals per week. India's Consul General in New York Binaya Pradhan noted that the statistics pointed to a ''very telling'' issue. While lauding efforts of the diaspora in the US to give back to communities in need across India, Pradhan stressed that it is ''befitting'' that Indian-Americans also ''give back to the communities in the countries'' where they live. Chef Vikas Khanna, who was this month named among the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME magazine, said that in India, ''food is a form of worship, care, healing'' and connects people to each other. Students, college officials and community members shared experiences of how the WFM initiative is helping address food insecurity challenges in New York. A woman beneficiary shared that she does not have to choose between buying her next meal or purchasing sanitary products for herself.