Feeding the Future
Hunger and malnutrition are common conditions with severe consequences for children in Bihar. 55% of children in Bihar are malnourished, and 4 out of 10 have stunted growth due to inadequate nutrition. Students in Bihar often come from working families, many of whom earn less than $2 per day from farming or labor and may be unable to provide adequate high-nutrition food.
Prema Metta
In 2015, BE Change Co-Founder Michelle Bos-Lun, along with Prema Metta founder Anup Kumar, started a lunch program at Prema Metta to address hunger and malnutrition.
Students at Prema Metta prepare for lunch.
Children eating a provided lunch at Prema Metta
After spending nearly six weeks teaching at Prema Metta, Michelle realized that many students were coming to school hungry and had little or no food for lunch. She returned to the U.S. and began raising funds for the lunch program through an online crowdfunding campaign, international dinners and, later, travel programs.
From 2015 to 2019, Michelle raised enough money to feed the 50+ Prema Metta students a nutritious lunch every school day and provide a salary for woman from a nearby village to serve as the school’s cook. Michelle and BE Change are proud to continue this impactful program, which BE Change has fully funded since 2019. Students from age 3 to 13 are no longer hungry at school—they feel better and learn better with food provided on school days.
Bhavishya Me
Before working with BE Change, our partner school, Bhavishya Me, was unable to construct a kitchen to feed its students lunch each school day. Without a lunch program, students had to return home for lunch and were not able to stay at school for a full day. At home, many lacked access to regular nutritious meals.
In early 2022, BE Change sought to address this program by raising funds to construct a kitchen at the school. Construction was completed in March with the help of local workers from the surrounding village.
BE Change funded the construction of a kitchen at Bhavishya Me to start a new meal program.
The new meal program launched in April 2022, feeding over 95 students a nutritious meal each school day. The program also employed two women from nearby villages as cooks and ensures students can attend school for a full school day, meaning they have more time to learn at school and engage with classmates and teachers.
One of the school’s new cooks serves a student at Bhavishya Me.
The program feeds students a daily nutritious lunch, ensuring they can stay at school for a full day.
Children shouldn’t have to live and learn with chronic hunger.
BE Change wants to ensure that the students in rural India can also count on at least one nutritious meal at school.
Michelle and volunteers serve daal, rice and aloo gobi to Prema Metta students.
Our Promise:
BE Change funds help our partner schools continue to operate their lunch programs each year. Your donations will ensure that children get to eat a nutritious meal each school day, all year.