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Akshaya Today2011 nine years of serving the helpless
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Being a CNN Top 10 Hero means many things, but most important o all it means being
recognized or unwavering dedication to an unselsh cause and commitment to those
amongst us that are in need. The cause may vary signicantly and those served may
be o many diverse cultures, races, nationalities and social standings the important
considerations are the need and the dedication to the need.CNN received 10,000 Hero nominations in 2010. The nominees came rom over 100
countries and were dedicated to a broad spectrum o causes. CNN then conducted a
careul in-depth review o the many nominees and
narrowed the selection down to 24 nalists. This nal
group included one rom India Narayanan Krishnan
rom Madurai. Krishnan is the ounder o Akshaya Trust,
a charity dedicated to helping the destitute and helplesson the streets o Madurai.
A Blue Ribbon Panel made up o globally recognized athletes, activists,
entrepreneurs, artists, innovators, actors, authors and musicians,
everyone a humanitarian in their own right, was then charged with the
task o selecting the CNN 2010 Top 10 Heroes. Having started with 10,000
nominees which were then narrowed down to a eld o 24, the panels
task was not easy. With careul consideration CNN announced the BlueRibbon Panels decision Narayanan Krishnan was selected as one o
CNNs 2010 Top 10 Heroes.
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A message rom KrishnanNine years, 1,700,000 meals and a lietime o experiences
ago I started eeding the helpless homeless o Madurai,
in southeast India. I was 20 years old and a one man army
ghting hunger and desperation.
In those nine years the one man army became a group o
volunteers helped by donors rom all walks o lie rich and
poor rom around the world. My goal and the goal o the
volunteers is to transorm Akshaya Trust so it becomes a
movement in 2011 a movement that will be copied by many
to serve the desperate helpless around the world.
Together we must set aside thoughts o caste, creed and color
as we extend our hand to help those in need. Our time on
Earth is limited and how we use that time is our choice. In our
quest to give pleasure to ourselves and others we would do
well to consider the joy o giving.
We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry,
naked and homeless. The poverty o being unwanted,unloved and uncared or is the greatest poverty. We must
start in our own homes to remedy this kind o poverty.
- Mother Teresa of Calcutta
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Those Akshaya ServesIt is dicult to understand why in a world o plenty there are so many that suer rom the lack o ood,
shelter and love. With so many desperately in need it is also very dicult to determine who to help when
your resources are very limited.
With careul consideration, Krishnan decided that Akshaya Trust would direct its limited resources towards
helping those that cant help themselves the destitute, mentally ill, elderly and rail that are uncared or
and existing on the roadside. It is painul to Krishnan and the Akshaya volunteers to exclude many asking
or help, but it is necessary due to the limits o Akshayas resources. Care is given to assure that none o
Akshayas resources are devoted to beggars and others that are capable o ending or themselves.
Akshaya provides nutritious, tasty ood and much more. As time and resources allow, the destitute are
provided personal care such a bathing, haircuts, shaves, clothing and the like. With an importance that is
almost as high as ood, Akshaya generously gives compassion, dignity and love to those it serves.
In 2012 Akshaya looks orward to establishing a very important milestone in its short history the
opening o the Akshaya Home in Melamathur on the outskirts o Madurai. On that day many o those
served by Akshaya will have not only shelter but a home that is theirs.
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This very appreciative lady is Muthammal. She is about 65
years old and has been served by Akshaya or approximately
eight years.
When Krishnan ound her eight years ago she was sleepingin a drainage ditch. She has two sons and a daughter but the
sons abandoned her on the roadside and took her house.
Krishnan and the Akshaya volunteers are now the only caring
people in her lie.
She asks or nothing, but Akshaya gives her two or three
meals a day and loving care. Some o the destitute receiveless than three meals a day because they move around and
can not be ound as the meals are being delivered.
Take a moment to ask yoursel, What would I do i she
were my mother or grandmother? You would most likely
answer very quickly I would help in the best way I could.
Think then o how much the Akshaya Home would improveMuthammals lie.
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Murugan is about 65 years old and has been served by
Akshaya or approximately eight years. His wie died and he
has no children. He is let destitute on the streets o Madurai
without a home or money.
Akshaya ound Murugan on the roadside with a ractured
leg and hip. Medical care was quickly administered and
Murugans wounds have healed but he has been let disabled
and cant support himsel. His existence depends solely on
the nourishment and care oered by Akshaya.
A place in the Akshaya Home will give Murugan the comort
being surrounded by people that care or him and knowing
he is protected rom the hazards o a roadside existence.
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Kamatchi is between 65 and 70 years old and has been
under Akshayas care or approximately eight years. She has
no money or home. Her children took her on a travel tour to
Madurai and let her behind when they returned home.
She has many health problems including a hormone
imbalance, signicant back pain, an unknown skin disease,
and leprosy that has resulted in the loss o her toes. In
addition she is oten bitten by dogs (note the cut on her
nose). She has also been badly treated by other people,
including being beaten by shopkeepers to drive her away
rom their businesses. Such beatings have cost Kamatchi the
use o her right eye.
Akshaya provided her with a makeshit bed to ease her back
pain until she can be moved into the Akshaya Home. The
Home will protect her rom the horrors o a roadside lie and
provide medical help or her many health problems.
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Priya is 13 years old. She is let early in the morning on the
streets o Madurai to beg or money.
As Priya matures she may become exposed to urther
risk. This will not be a simple situation to resolve as there
are many legal and moral issues to be addressed. Priyas
situation is desperate and urgent.
This type o situation will be substantially easier to resolve
once the Akshaya Home is opened.
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Although his name isnt known to Akshaya he has been
grateully receiving the love and nourishment given by
Krishnan and the volunteers or approximately nine years.
He careully sets aside some o his ood or the ants, insects
and other small creatures around him. It is obvious he hasmuch compassion or others. He declines ood i he is not
hungry, telling the volunteers to, Give it to others.
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Boopathy is not greedy and seeks only his
basic needs. He gives Akshaya any money he
receives rom strangers. I dont need it, is
his only comment.
She was very depressed when Akshaya
ound her. She was also starving and had
started to eat garbage. She is now eating
three meals a day rom Akshaya.
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It has been almost eight years since
Akshaya ound Suburamanian sleeping
in a garbage bin with garbage over and
around him. Krishnan and the Akshaya
volunteers dug him out and have been
providing support to him since then.
The best that can be determined by
Akshaya is that Suburamanian has
mental problems due to all and head
injuries, and his amily abandoned him.
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Akshaya has been giving Padma roadside support or
approximately seven years. Very little is known about her
background other than she is one o the many destitute and
helpless people that have come under Akshayas care.
Padma suered a bad leg racture when crossing the road in
December 2010. She was taken to the hospital and received
medical care but could not be admitted to the hospital due
to legal issues. Although Akshaya has been providing Padma
prescribed medications she continues to suer much pain.
The Akshaya Trust has given Padma resh cloths and provided
personal care within the limits o what is easible in the
roadside environment.
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His severely deormed legs make it impossible or him to
walk. Instead he drags his body along using the strength ohis arms.
Akshaya doesnt know his name but it has taken him under
its care or seven years. During that time Krishnan and the
volunteers have learned that he is a person o principle
and determination. He lives on the roadside and considers
the area he is in to be his responsibility. Oten passersby
will discard trash rom their cars with no regard to those
at the roadside. He quickly drags he body to the trash and
removes it. This in spite o the act that it is a substantial task
or him to move and he is placing himsel in harms way. His
response when asked why he removes the trash is, Let me
do something!
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Akshaya Trust has not been able to determine any o
Pandis background but has taken him under its care or
approximately nine years. Although he trusts and relies on
Akshaya he will not communicate with others.
I Pandis meal is late he quickly resorts to eating garbage
reusing ood oered by anyone other than the Akshaya
volunteers.
Pandi is mentally and physically ill. His diseases are undened
he has inections and many leg wounds, most likely insect
and vermin bites. A place in the Akshaya Home would put
him in an environment where at least some o his inections
could at least be controlled i not cured.
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There are many challenges when caring or people living on
the roadside, with personal hygiene being an important one.
Personal hygiene plays a very important role in restoring
the well being o the people Akshaya Trust serves. Such carehelps improve the comort and raises the individuals sel-
esteem. It is also an important actor in the eort to improve
the individuals overall health.
Krishnan, with the support o the Akshaya Trust volunteers,
provides personal care or the destitute and helpless to an
extent that many o us would nd dicult or impossibleto do. This includes bathing, giving hair cuts, shaving and
changing clothes. The diculties are many but the care is
given whenever possible, depending on the extent o care
needed and the reaction o the individual receiving the care.
The completion o the Akshaya Home will greatly acilitate
providing personal care to those in need. It will signicantlyhelp Krishnan and the volunteers when providing care that
many o us would nd impossible to do.
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Preparing and Serving
Nutritious and Delicious Food
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One o the most devastating physical hardships aced by the
deserted helpless is hunger. Facing days without the hopeo having even the smallest morsel o ood destroys all hope
o salvation rom a lie o misery. The bodys basic unctions
struggle to continue, the mental processes become conused
and the pain can not be measured.
To combat roadside hunger or the helpless, Krishnan and the
Akshaya Trust volunteers have prepared and delivered three
meals a day every day o the year or nine years that equals
over 1,700,000 meals. Akshaya is now eeding approximately
450 deserving people a day.
Once the Akshaya Home is completed and unctioning the
task o eeding those in need will substantially change. Food
preparation will be more ecient and the drain on resources to
distribute the ood will be virtually eliminated.
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Cooking three meals a day or 450 people would be a major
task or a well staed restaurant with the best o equipment.
For Krishnan and the volunteers at Akshaya Trust it is a
routine done three times a day with minimal sta, very basicequipment and in less than an hour or each meal.
All meals are prepared using ingredients rom local markets
that are selected or reshness, nutritional value and taste.
They are then combined according to local recipes with
spices, rice, lentils and other appropriate ingredients. The
recipes are also selected based on their appropriateness or ameal that is delivered and served on the roadside to people
in many separate locations.
Here we see Krishnan adding vegetables and rice to the
mid-day meal while volunteer Mani is preparing rice with
vegetable subji.
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A Home or the Helpless
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The Akshaya Home has not been designed to be a shelter,
institution or place o connement. It is to be a place o
reuge, a place o comort, a place o compassionate and
loving care. It is to be a home when home is dened as aplace or a amily.
When completed, the Akshaya home will be able to provide
many o the essentials o lie we take or granted when we are
secure in our home and surrounded by our amily:
Three meals a day o resh tasty ood to give
nourishment and comort.A clean and comortable bed.
Accessible clean bathing and toilet acilities.
On-site medical care will be provided or made available
o-site i beyond the scope o the Akshaya Home
Medical Clinic.
Akshaya will also work with secular volunteer groups toprovide social programs aimed at giving the residents a
sense o community.
Waiting or the Akshaya Home
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Krishnan and Contractor Mani Blocks 1, 2, 3 and 4
Construction projects need many things to make them a success a good design, proper materials,
able cratsmen, nancial support and good management. Good management like good materials is an
important element o a project budget. Contractor Mani is a very good construction manager who is
providing his expertise to Akshaya Trust at no cost.
The heart o the Akshaya Home project consists o our blocks. Block 1 houses the medical clinic andpatient rooms. Block 2 includes a sick bay and doctors oces as well as dormitory areas. Blocks 3 and 4
are devoted entirely to male and emale dormitories. Other blocks include the dining room, special needs
acility, administration and security.
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Security station and well
Dining room oundations
Care has been taken to be sure the Akshaya Home is being
built in a very cost eective manner. The goal is to make it
a reuge or the helpless homeless or generations to come.
Many actors have been taken into consideration to assure
this goal is met. The initial construction costs are obvious
actors, while the operations, sta, maintenance and repair
costs will be the main budget actors in the long term.
With these important actors in mind the Home is being
constructed using durable, low maintenance materials o
high quality. This approach will assure that the Home can be
eectively operated and maintained with minimum sta and
recurring expense.
The Home has also been designed so that uture expansion
can be done when needed at minimum expense and
interruption to ongoing operations. Each o the our basic
blocks can support an additional level. The columns have
been extended above the roo level thereby negating the
need to disrupt the initial construction when adding the
second level.
The Akshaya Home is a place or todays helpless homeless
and with appropriate support will be able to address
tomorrows needs as well.
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The Special Care Facility will be dedicate to the individuals that
or a variety o reasons may be at risk to themselves or others
and thereore need to be reasonably isolated. The acility willbe able to support up to thirty residents.
The individual rooms o the Special Care Facility are accessed
by a covered walkway and will create a peaceul atmosphere.
This type o an environment has been planned to help
establish an ambiance that will be calming and reassuring to
those residents that have high levels o anxiety or ear.
Special Care Facility
Special Care Facility open area
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The design o the Akshaya Home takes local fooding caused
by seasonal rain into consideration. The plan raises the
ground foor level above the anticipated food level. The
adjacent grade level is then elevated to the foor level by
lling in the area between the building and the retainingwall as shown in the photo to the right. The lower grade level
between the retaining walls will be landscaped to give a
peaceul ambiance to the area. The raised grade adjacent to
the building will be a covered paved walkway connecting the
our building blocks.
The concrete strips on the ground are the oundations or
a bridge between the building blocks. The bridge will give
the Akshaya Home the ability to eciently and saely move
residents between the residential areas and the medical clinic.
Retaining wall or covered walkway
Connecting bridge oundation
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The proper installation o quality building
materials is a basic step in creating an eicient
and easily maintained acility. These photos show
the care being taken to assure the marble loor
tiles and wood doors and shelving are properly
installed and inished.
Woodwork tting and installation
Floor tile ready to be polished
Cratsman tting a marble foor tile
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Triage and emergencycare area
Sick bay area
The construction o the Akshaya Home Medical Care Facility
is nearing completion. The installation o the medical
equipment will be the next step once the construction and
associated site work is complete.
Once the air conditioned, equipped and staed acility isready or occupancy it will provide comprehensive medical
care to all residents o the Akshaya Home. This will include
oxygen and medications or those in need as well as 24 hour
care given by qualied doctors and nurses.
The Medical Care Facilitys sick bay will house those residents
that must be isolated rom the rest o the population and
need supervised medical care.
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Medical clinic patient room
Medical clinic corridor topatient rooms
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Patient room lavatory
Patient room toilet
As in all aspects o the Akshaya Home design, attention hasbeen given to the use o design concepts and materials that
will acilitate the care o the residents and keep operating and
maintenance costs to a minimum.
Examples shown here include lavatories that are accessible
outside the toilet area and toilet and shower areas that
are ully tiled or ecient hygienic maintenance. Otherconsiderations include easy access to patient rooms, ease o
visual observation o patients, marble tile foors or durability
and ease o cleaning, adequate storage cabinets, and well
placed windows or light, ventilation and a peaceul view.
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Ater having spent years existing on the roadside it will
be an unimaginable luxury to have a bed in a place that
is protected rom the weather and dangers commonly
experienced in the open. It will then be nearly
miraculous to awaken rom a physically comorting
sleep and have your emotions soothed by a pleasing
view o the green countryside and rolling hills as seenrom your window.
Such a miracle will be an everyday reality or the
residents o the Akshaya Home.
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The Akshaya Home residential area
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Akshayas Helping in H.E.L.P. Trust9, West 1st Main Street, Doak Nagar Extension, Madurai - 625 010, India
E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: +91 (0) 452 4353439 / 2587104Website: www.akshayatrust.org Cell phone: +91 (0) 98433 19933
FCRA Regn No. 075940512 Min. o Home Afairs, Govt. o India I.T. 80(G) Regn. No. 108/2003-04 ITC Madurai
80(G) exemption C. No. 464/119/CIT-I/2003-04 dated 7th October, 2010
Akshaya USA17359 E. Caley Place, Aurora, Colorado 80016 USA
Telephone: 303.995.8967 E-mail: [email protected]: www.akshayausa.org Facebook: www.acebook.com/AkshayaTrust
Exempt rom Federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) o the Internal Revenue Code - Public Charity