By Pranathi Chitta
Staff Writer

Before school started, a student started a club, which has quickly gained members. Coppell High School sophomore Surabi Rao went to a grocery store and saw a flyer about a club called “Akshaya Patra”. Akshaya Patra is an organization which raises money to give food to hungry children in India.

Akshaya Patra is a non government organization that was founded in 2000. The term “Akshaya Patra” literally translates to “an unlimited bowl of food”. The organization’s motto is “limited food for education” meaning that no child shall not get educated due to starvation. The organization is beginning to spread across the country, creating youth and adult clubs in different states and cities, such as New Jersey, Chicago, and now the DFW youth chapter.

Rao gathered a group of friends to start this organization for the youth in the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

“I joined it because there are many children in India that suffer every day without food, and through the help of Akshaya Patra program, food can be delivered to the children,” sophomore member Ajay Prabhu said.

Even students outside of Coppell are joining this chapter.

“My dad saw some emails about it, and he showed it me, sparking an interest,” Greenhill School of Dallas sophomore member Nehal Patil said.

Patil said he is excited to meet new people and contribute to the club.

“I want to spread the youth chapter to different schools and not just keep it in Coppell, and then eventually integrate the entire Dallas Fort Worth area into our chapter,” Rao said.

The coordinator for the club is Saurabh Maheshwari who is also currently serving at Publicity Chair for DFW Akshaya Patra chapter.

“As the youth coordinator from the adult chapter, I would like to see the youth team grow, get more school students involved and eventually be independent and sustainable.” Maheshwari said.

To start out with raising money, the club had their first fundraiser at Sweet Tomatoes on Oct. 29. Twenty percent of the profit from

each meal of the night will go to the club.

“I have to say that it became bigger than I thought it would be,” Rao said.

Students, teachers, and parents attended this anticipated event.

“I came because my friends were apart of the club and for the good cause,” sophomore Sneha Karkala said.

Karkala is not apart of the club, but came to support the cause.

“It was a great way to get to know the members of Akshaya Patra while still having fun,” Karkala said.

Rao also thinks this is a good start for the beginning of the club.

“I thought it was a good start for fundraising, and now we have a starting point to build off of to try to earn more money than we did,” Rao said.

All the money from the night’s event will be going directly to the organization.

“I didn’t know that the night would a big hit. We raised more money than we thought we would,” sophomore member Haris Rafiq said.

Rafiq said that the night was fun and interactive since he learned more about the club.

“It was a great first event that helped bring people from community together in support of Akshaya Patra and being fun at the same time,” Maheshwari said.

This fundraiser raised enough money to serve around eight underprivileged school kids in India for a whole school year.

“DFW Akshaya Patra Youth Chapter will certainly inspire more students across the DFW metroplex and even across the country to help Akshaya Patra in it’s noble cause of eradicating malnutrition in India,” Maheshwari said.

The club raised more than $100 from the night. To find more about this organization, visit the website at www.akshayapatra.org. People are still able to join the DFW chapter of Akshaya Patra.