Marcus Rashford lauds Indian charity Akshaya Patra for offering free school meals

Manchester United star Marcus Rashford has been clutch on and off the field over the past few months. While the England international scored decisive goals against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and RB Leipzig, he has also rallied to end child hunger in the UK, using his platform to spread awareness among the locals to donate and help vulnerable young children. The Rashford food campaign's efforts have spread wideout, with Indian charity organisation Akshaya Patra also joining him in his fight against child food poverty. 

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Marcus Rashford lauds Akshaya Patra after Indian charity offers free meals to school children

In a report by The Guardian, Akshaya Patra have voiced their support for Marcus Rashford's initiative and have set up first of three planned kitchens in Watford. The organisation that provides mid-day meals to millions of poor children in India, will serve hot vegetarian dishes costing less than £2 each. The model has been famously adopted in major cities like Mumbai and Ahmedabad in India and were dispatched to a school in North London, as calls for the government to support the Marcus Rashford petition grew louder. 

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Akshaya Patra is planning to set up similar kitchens in Leicester and east London and expects to keep delivering free meals to schools in the Christmas holidays. The Watford kitchen is designed to facilitate the cooking of 9000 meals a day and plans are in place to set up similar kitchens in Leicester and east London. The charity also aims to sell meals to schools for less than £2 a portion, which half of it paid is by the Government, while the other half is collected by donations.

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Speaking to The Guardian, Bhawani Singh Shekhawat, the chief executive of Akshaya Patra said that the model is tried and tested in India which has seen child hunger at much larger and frenetic scale. The Akshaya Patra kitchen uses steam cookery to keep levels of fat low, which according to Shekhawat solves both the hunger problem and the nutrition problem. The GMSP Foundation also joined hands with Akshaya Patra and funded their £500,000 kitchen in Watford. Their Cheif Executive Sonal Sachdev Patel said that the country has responded brilliantly to their efforts, and believes bringing technology and innovation from India is a long term solution to the problem. 

Marcus Rashford was quick to laud Akshaya Patra's efforts, as he quoted The Guardian's article on Twitter. The Manchester United forward thanked the charity organisation for their efforts, as he steps up his campaign to end child hunger in UK. Akshaya Patra appreciated the 22-year-old's comments and wished him the very best as he is championing a great effort. Shekhawat also took to Twitter, thanking Marcus Rashfoird, while urging him to pay a visit to their kitchens some time. 

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(Image Courtesy: Marcus Rashford Instagram)