Birthday done the right way

HYDERABAD : How do you make your birthday special? Ramesh Manickavel, who works for a semiconductor manufacturing company in Hyderabad, has decided to make his birthdays special by making a difference in society. This year, he raised Rs 6.4 lakh to build a classroom.

He shares: “Every year around my birthday, I prefer to raise fund to support education for less privileged kids. It has been a great experience in the last few years. This year, I wanted to do reach out to more kids.

While talking to Srivyal Vuyyuri, founder of Sphoorti organization, we felt it will be great if we can raise funds towards construction of a classroom on Sphoorti campus at Dundigal, located on the outskirts of the city. The target was set for Rs 6.4 lakh for 396 sq.ft classroom in the school.

We started a fundraising campaign a month ago.”  Sphoorti is an NGO working for underprivileged children who are orphaned, abandoned, destitute or fall in other vulnerable groups. As many as 180 children live on their Dundigal campus.

“Over 1.5 months, with the help of 88 supporters, we collected Rs 6.44 lakh, a little above our target. Since many of my friends have already supported various initiatives this year for pandemic relief, I was not sure if we will be getting funds this time. But we were wrong. We received better support than any other year,” adds Ramesh.

Talking about how he connected with others, he says: “Unlike previous years, with the exception of Facebook posts and private messages to a few of my friends, we did not do much follow-up. For every donation, I posted a ‘thank you’ message for the donor, with one of my artworks.

It helped others to know about the campaign and how it supports the future of many children.” Adding that there are many who want to contribute towards building a better socierty, he says: “Everyone wants to support society in any way they can, but they want to ensure their money goes to right source.

Sphoorti works with a lot of transparency, and I did not have to worry about anything else.” Last year, Ramesh raised Rs 4.2 lakh to help send four girls to college. He is an artist too, and sells his work through social media platforms to raise funds for education.

— Kakoli Mukherjee  kakoli_mukherjee@newindianexpress.com  @KakoliMukherje2