Meet Raj Asava | Community Volunteer & Co-Founder of HungerMitao Movement

A little over seven years ago, in a conversation with the Plano, Texas mayor, I learned about the hunger issue in Plano and Collin County. My wife Anna and I found out that many kids in the schooling system (where our children had attended) had to go hungry over the weekend if not for the Food4Kids program by the local food bank (North Texas Food Bank). Frankly speaking, we were stunned! We were in a state of disbelief as the County we lived in seemed visibly affluent. Since we struggled accepting the hunger issue in our midst, we decided to dig deeper and found disturbing statistics.

We learned that more than 800,000 people in North Texas were food challenged. A harder fact to accept was that 1 in 4 school-going children (back in 2017) faced hunger in their homes. While they’re fed through subsidized or free meals during school days, their weekends were often spent hungry. We were heartbroken. We also learned about our food bank and its programs to help kids and families needing food assistance. Through its very efficient processes and networks, North Texas Food Bank was able to stretch a single dollar into three nutritious meals. We decided that starting a new initiative to address the hunger issue did not make any sense. Instead, it would be best to throw our support behind, and join forces with the food bank to tackle the hunger issues across North Texas. Over time, our donations to the North Texas Food Bank increased, as did our engagement. We volunteered regularly and noticed that there were not very many people of Indian origin in our volunteer lines. That’s when it dawned on us. Just like us, perhaps others were unaware of this hidden hunger? So, we committed to raising hunger awareness in the Indian American community across North Texas. That’s how all of this came together. We thought that if an entire community came at it in unison, we could actually move the needle in the fight against hunger.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

Born and raised in India, I (Raj Asava) moved to the US in 1974 and started my working career as a dishwasher at a hospital in Michigan. I pursued my higher education on a part time basis and eventually made a successful career in the Information Technology services industry. Over the four decades of my corporate career in the United States, I worked in senior/executive ranks for several large companies and held the position of President at two start-up organizations. I retired as the Chief Strategy Officer at Perot Systems / Dell Services in 2010.

When my wife Aradhana (Anna) and I learned that millions of people across the U.S. are food challenged, we moved to action. In 2017, we founded HungerMitao (which translates to Wipeout Hunger), a grassroots movement focused on raising awareness about hunger in the U.S., improving community engagement, and channeling resources and contributions of communities in the fight against hunger. In the 5 years since its launch, the HungerMitao movement has spread to multiple cities across the country and enabled over 50 million meals for the Feeding America and their vast network of Food Banks. In Summer of 2021, we were recognized as one of the top 100 philanthropists of Indian origin from across the globe in Indiaspora’s 2021 Philanthropy Leaders List.

“Our mission is HungerMitao, and HungerMitao is as much about eradicating hunger as it is about unifying the fragmented efforts of the Indian American community and focusing it on the humanitarian cause of hunger.” Raj said. “By coming together as a unified community, we can demonstrate how any place we call home benefits from our presence. We are smart, compassionate change-agents, who bloom where we are planted. While we may never be able to eradicate hunger, let us ensure no one goes hungry – HungerMitao!” Anna added.

A Plano, Texas resident, I now channel my time and resources in a focused manner to causes related to food insecurity, children’s advocacy, education, and mentoring the next generation.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajasava/

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.

From Arboretum to Hotel ZaZa, Dallas has a lot to offer to its visitors. My suggestions for a friend visiting Dallas would include (not necessarily in this sequence) the following 10 things to do:

1. Klyde Warren Park
   2. Dallas Museum of Art (DMA)
   3. Perot Museum
   4. ISKCON Temple – with a meal at Kalachandjis gourmet vegetarian restaurant
   5. A Cowboys, Mavericks, Rangers, or Stars game – depending on the season
   6. An Indian meal at India 101 in Irving – India 101 is the largest Indian Buffet restaurant in North America.
   7. Scenic walk and spectacular sunset at Arbor Hills in Plano
   8. An overnight (or two nights) visit to Austin – for a guest visiting for a week or longer
   9. Tour of Dallas downtown – JFK Assassination and Museum Tour with Lee Harvey Oswald Rooming House
   10. A day in Fort Worth – Historic sites, Museums, Rodeo, Water Gardens