This post was written by Rohini Kamath, who works for Cisco's Community Relations team in Bangalore, India, helping employees give back to society.

As we inch closer to the final week of Cisco's signature fundraising campaign, the Global Hunger Relief Campaign, we look back and feel proud about the 150,000 children we have fed over the last 6 years through our exclusive nongovernmental organization (NGO) partner Akshaya Patra Foundation.

Akshaya Patra, one of the largest mid-day meal programs in the world, serves meals across 10,000 schools in India. The Global Hunger Relief Campaign this year aims to fundraise to benefit 40,000 children for an entire year. To add momentum to the effort, the Cisco HR team in India organized a marathon in support of the campaign. With the mission of "achieving miles for smiles," over 300 employees participated.

Food packages that Cisco employees put together are delivered to students at a government-run school

This season also witnessed the largest volunteering event for our office in Bangalore, where 215 employees came together to pack 1000 food packages for underprivileged children in a government-run school. Cisco's in-house rock band, the Lone Rangers, performed in the spirit of giving back during the campaign, and even composed a song dedicated to the Global Hunger Relief Campaign.

More than 8 teams of employees also helped at the Akshaya Patra kitchen; they assisted with various activities, such as shifting vegetables, sterilizing them, and cutting them for the next day's meal. Some teams accompanied delivery vehicles carrying food to schools and helped serve meals. Volunteer participation was seen from other cities where we have offices, too.

Giving back has always been at the core of every Cisco employee's role in the organization and the activities undertaken over the last few weeks exemplify this very spirit!

Volunteers prep the next days mealVolunteers lead and arts-and-crafts campEmployee rock band the Lone Rangers perform at a volunteer event for the Akshaya Patra Foundation