Positive world change is seldom achieved by one person; more often than not, amazing things happen when like-minded people are committed to a singular goal.
Teamwork is the secret that makes common people achieve uncommon results. - Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
32 young leaders had one common goal to be the reason for change in underprivileged students' lives. They came together to raise funds to support Nethra Vidyalaya and tribal school students' education. Together they raised enough money to support 64+ students' education for one whole year.
32 youth leaders raised more than $25,000 to support 68+ students' education with the help of 265 donors.
Each student who participated in the 4th annual Outreach project learned about Nethra Vidyalaya & Tribal student's struggles and yet their passion and dedication led to them achieving an international level. Their dedication inspired these 31 youth leaders to do their best to support them.
As it is Outreach, they reached out to new potential donors to raise awareness about the cause and to secure financial contributions. In this process, they learned various interpersonal skills and built relationships, engaged the community, enhanced their communication skills, and inspired people to contribute to the cause. Their success reflects not only the dedication and hard work of the students involved but also the support they received from the community. They've got donations from friends & family, small businesses, and other non-profit organizations like Rotary, Google Giving Campaign, school teachers, dance teachers, and many more. One of our youngest volunteers Adhip promoted outreach to the Robotics team and asked all his team members to be part of this project. Another youth volunteer Oviya reached out to Rotary and got a generous donation. Special thanks to Rotary for their continuous support of Outreach and their generous donation this year.
Kudos to the parents of all these youth leaders for constantly motivating them and helping them identify the donors.
Wonderful team leads who participated in this outreach project:
Oviya Jaisankar, Sai Sriram Karnati, Jishnu Kandalam, Varnika Jakka, Shruthi Adduri, Sathvik Tirumalakanduri, Ruthvi Ala, Anvika Perumalla, Shreya Shetty, Sneha Chandrasekar, Adhip Pisipati, Rakshan Samynathan, Kaustubh Dingari, Ridhi Manjunath, Swara Rege, Samhith E, Anirvin Ramanan, Rishi Chowdhury, Adithi Esrala, Nishant Sarma, Akshay Kumar, Abhi Mudeganti, Sreenika Perumalla, Kalki Renga Anand, Farhang Irani, Vahini M, Ishan Iyer,
Mihita Lokesh, Sucheta Lokesh, Jayanth Batti, Vishnu Athreya & Swara Rege
These are the reflection messages from our team leads:
Oviya Jaisankar:
I am so glad to have participated in the Outreach Program once again this year. I'm really grateful to the Google Giving Campaign and both the Rotary Interact Club and Livonia AM Rotary Club for helping me support more than 14 students' education for a year. It felt amazing to be able to help these extremely talented students accomplish new things every day.
Sai Sriram Karnati:
Outreach was a great opportunity for me to expand my public speaking skills. I also felt very proud talking about the Many Major Achievements that these great Talented Students have accomplished. Thank you VT Seva for this Great opportunity.
Jishnu Kandalam:
As every year, the outreach project was a great initiative to be a part of. I was really happy to see all the people in my community willing to come and support this cause. This project made me expand my communication skills as I had to reach out to multiple people in my community and convince them to support this cause. I grew as a leader and as a team member and was very happy to see how I was able to help almost 3 kids get free education for 1 year.
Shruthi Adduri:
I think this was a very nice and impactful project for me to learn about and help others. I really enjoyed learning ways to reach out to people and how happy I was once I reached my goals for how many kids education I wanted to sponsor.
Sathvik Tirumalakanduri:
This fundraising event has been one of the most satisfying activities I have done this year. I know that the money collected will be put a great use and will help in building a bright future for the underprivileged and visually impaired children's education.
Ruthvi Ala:
First of all, I wanted to say I’m so proud of the VT Seva outreach group for raising money to support 50 students. One big takeaway was that I have to know who to ask. One of my robotics mentors told me it is important to know who, and when to ask someone. He also told me a lot of the people who are working on a cause very similar are very willing to donate. After I learned this small trick, I was able to raise money to support 3 students. For example, when I informed people about the cause, versus, when I texted my neighbor, who is working on a rural development program to inform her, she immediately donated. And like this, I reached out to many people. It felt great to know I was able to support 3 students for a year and I can’t wait to do this again next time!
Anvika Perumalla:
As every year, the outreach project was a great initiative to be a part of. I was really happy to see all the people in my community willing to come and support this cause. This project made me expand my communication skills as I had to reach out to multiple people in my community and convince them to support this cause. I grew as a leader and as a team member and was very happy to see how I was able to help almost 3 kids get free education for 1 year.
Shreya Shetty:
The outreach program was a very good opportunity for me as it helped me directly reach out to potential donors and inform them about the cause that VT Seva supports. It allowed me to directly impact the students that VT Seva supports and that was a huge motivation for me throughout this project.
Sneha Chandrasekar:
Every year, I am so surprised by the amount of people who are willing to reach out and help others, and I think the outreach project really showcases that people strive to find ways to help others. In fact, many of my own family friends that I had reached out to last year asked me if they could donate before I had even sent a message about it. It really makes me happy to know that I could help contribute to spreading the message about the tribal and blind students in India and being able to help them in any way. While my impact may have been small, I hope that it will encourage others to create their own impacts.
Adhip Pisipati:
It gave me a sense of fulfillment in encouraging my Robotics teammates to join the outreach program. The very fact that I am making a difference in the lives of the underprivileged gave me the strength to push my teams to do more in terms of outreach. I am so happy that I am part of this wonderful cause.
Rakshan Samynathan:
Fundraising for VT Seva was a fulfilling experience mobilizing support, spreading awareness, and witnessing the generosity of friends, family, and the community. Knowing that these efforts will contribute to the education of visually impaired kids at Nethra Vidyalaya is truly rewarding.
Kaustubh Dingari:
when I first started the outreach project, I noticed that many people were very reluctant to donate, unless they had a good speech. so I prepared a speech beforehand on paper and read that out to people. After three or four tries, my speech started working and I got a few donations.
Ridhi Manjunath:
I feel so proud to have the opportunity to help out with this project and raise money for this charity. I am happy I was able to raise money for at least 1 kid's education. The experience was amazing.
Swara Rege:
This was my first time participating in the VT Seva Outreach to support Nethra Vidyalaya. At first, I was hesitant to reach out to people for donations. However, once I got my first donation I got the confidence to reach out to family and close family friends and share information about Nethra Vidyalaya and the amazing work they have been doing to provide free education to underprivileged blind students in India. I feel very proud and satisfied that I got the opportunity to be part of this noble cause and was able to raise funds along with my fellow youth members to sponsor free education for a year for several kids. I look forward to participating in this event every year. Thank You, VT Seva!
Samhith E:
Assisting blind students has been a very rewarding experience, it teaches you how helping others is the same thing as helping yourself. How? Watching the bar fill up with donations lets you know that YOU are making a difference, and someone is very grateful for this. It lets you understand that someone out there is smiling just because YOU decided to stand up and make a difference. Overall, the experience of helping blind students has been a testament to the impact that small acts of kindness can have on the lives of others.
Anirvin Ramanan:
Supporting this fundraiser was a new experience for me and made me feel good as I was supporting a cause that would go towards giving blind students better lives.
Rishi Chowdhury:
I really liked doing the VT Seva Outreach project since it was my first time raising money to support one child's education
Vahini M:
This fundraiser was a rewarding experience and I'm glad I got to participate in it. Seeing all of the donations, some as little as $5, adding up to surpass our goal, was incredible and inspiring. Even though I wasn't able to raise as much money as I wanted, I'll take what I learned from this fundraiser and apply it to my next one.
Blog written by: Priya Jaisankar