Raj Asava and Aradhana Asava, an Indo-American couple, are mobilizing community to help fight hunger in the US. Instead of establishing yet another organization, they chose to establish a movement called HungerMitao.
Raj Asava, who once worked for Perot Systems, had a profound chat with the mayor of Plano, Texas, where he now resides, around seven years ago. Asava had served in high executive positions for numerous major US corporations before retiring in 2010 as the chief strategy officer of Perot Systems.
Asava recalls, “The stunning truth of starvation in Plano and Collin County’s own neighborhoods shocked me. I was shocked to learn that many students in the educational system experienced weekend hunger. It was incomprehensible that such a well-known and prosperous nation should harbor hunger inside its boundaries.”
He dug deeper into the matter and discovered upsetting figures with the help of his wife Aradhana (Anna), who had abandoned her 20-year job in the global IT business in 2009 to engage in effective charity. After several decades of enjoying the corporate lifestyle, the empty-nester couple made the decision to retire with the goal of giving back to the community when their two kids started college.
“As our engagement in the charitable field grew, we began contributing not only financial resources but also our time, expertise, and networks. Our focus shifted to mentoring students and young businesspeople, running numerous organizations, and maintaining a healthy balance in life, Asava recalls.
But the crucial second was still to come. The pair learned that between 10% and 12% of Americans experienced food insecurity. “What was even more upsetting to us was finding that, as of 2017, 1 in 4 school-aged children experienced hunger in their own families, and that over 800,000 individuals in the North Texas region where we reside did not know where their next meal was coming from. While most of them received discounted or free meals throughout the week, they frequently went without food on the weekends.
The Asavas felt the need to act, and when they began to explore about, they discovered the activities and programs of the North Texas Food Bank. “The food bank provided three wholesome meals to the poor for just one dollar because to effective procedures and broad networks. We realized that establishing our own campaign to end hunger would be pointless and ineffective. Instead, we made the decision to help the North Texas Food Bank in its efforts to combat food insecurity in the area, according to Asava.
However, what was even more important was that their next move was to mobilize the Indian American population. “We routinely helped, but we soon observed that the Indian American community was underrepresented in the volunteer lines. That was a lightbulb moment; possibly like us, other members of our neighborhood were ignorant of the problem. We embarked on a journey with a strong dedication to educating the Indian American community in North Texas about hunger. We had a strong conviction that, if the entire community worked together toward a common goal, we could have a substantial influence on the battle against hunger,” Asava recalls.
Instead of establishing yet another organization, they chose to establish a movement called HungerMitao with the goal of mobilizing and involving the Indian American community in the battle against hunger by aiding the North Texas Food Bank and the Feeding America network of food banks.
“HungerMitao is a grassroots, volunteer-run initiative. Since its debut in 2017, it has significantly improved community involvement, increased resource mobilization, and directed support from the Indian American community toward the battle against hunger, according to Asava. Over 50 million meals have been made possible for the Feeding American network of food banks in the five years since the movement’s inception.
According to Anna Asava, “HungerMitao is as much about ending hunger as it is about uniting the dispersed efforts of our community and putting them on the humanitarian cause of hunger.” The pair, who recently got lifetime achievement awards from US President Joe Biden, is now inviting the 4 million-strong Indian diaspora in the US to assist in the endeavour to make sure that no one goes hungry in their chosen home. This is in keeping with the saying “give where you live.”
We were taught to plan for scale and template everything through our corporate careers. In October 2018, we collaborated with the Houston Food Bank to introduce HungerMitao there. The movement grew over the following three years to include more places with sizable Indian communities, including Tarrant Area, New York City, Atlanta, Seattle, SE Michigan, and Seattle. At Feeding America, we also launched a nationwide campaign,” adds Asava.
With each launch, their essential approach stays the same: they establish alliances with neighborhood food banks, find enthusiastic Indian community leaders in each place, and offer templates and instructions for an easy start and deeper participation.
In addition to educating the Indian diaspora, recruiting volunteers, and organizing food drives, HungerMitao has raised $2.5 million for the North Texas Food Bank through fund-raising activities. “Powered by the whole Indian American community, the initiative has generated millions of dollars for Feeding America and its network of food banks from the Indian diaspora across the US. Numerous businesses and people give tons of food each year, and hundreds of kind neighbors volunteer countless hours,” adds Asava.
The HungerMitao approach has also been adopted by other ethnic groups. For instance, the Chinese American community in North Texas has started its own initiative named Nihao. They raised hundreds of thousands of meals for the North Texas Food Bank in only the first three months. A Hispanic community version of HungerMitao called SinHambre has also been released. “We provide assets, contacts, tools, templates, experiences, and lessons learned to other communities, allowing them to leverage and adjust the model to fit their cultural nuances,” claims Asava.
From poor origins, he pursued the American ideal of establishing a prosperous profession via toil, tenacity, fortitude, and access to opportunity. Asava has now embraced the idea that a person’s life is best lived in three stages: learning, earning, and giving back.
