Mid-Day Meal Schemes: The Gap That NGOs Like AFJS Fill

India's Mid-Day Meal Scheme is one of the largest school feeding programmes in the world, serving over 120 million children in government schools. It is a remarkable achievement. It is also deeply imperfect.

Where the Gaps Appear - Many children who need meals most are not enrolled in government schools - Quality and consistency vary enormously across districts and states - During school holidays, weekends, and examination breaks, the meals stop, but hunger does not - Children in private or semi-private schools receive no government meal support

Who Falls Through the Cracks The families we work with in Bhavnagar often fall outside the government scheme's reach for a combination of these reasons. Children who attend St. Xavier's Primary School, where we enroll many of our beneficiaries, receive no government meal support. And during summer breaks or after school hours, even enrolled children return to households where food is uncertain.

Our Nutrition Drives AFJS Trust's Food & Nutrition Drive was created specifically to fill this gap. We run 4+ nutrition drives per month, delivering wholesome, freshly prepared meals to children and families. Our volunteers cook in community kitchens, using local ingredients, with no preservatives and no compromise on quality.

We document every drive, recording how many meals were served, who received them, and what was prepared, so our donors can see exactly where their money goes.

The Numbers Each nutrition drive typically serves 50-100 meals. Over the course of a month, we deliver 200-400 meals directly to the families who need them most.

For ₹5,000, you can fund an entire nutrition drive, feeding 80 children for a day.