Through elders, social media, and every other moral story in school, we've all learned that random acts of kindness make the world a better place. But how many of us practice that? We're all stuck in a rat race to move forward that we seldom think of doing something for the societal good. Meet Vinil, a 25-year-old Avionics Engineer who doubles up as a social hero to empower the needy.
While managing this full-time job in full swing, he also runs Abhisti Welfare Society, a zero-fund NGO, along with his brother Sunil and their friend Swarnalatha. This NGO takes care of a lot of things — food donations to the underprivileged, support to farmers, and career guidance for the youth, to name a few.
What motivates him to do this? It's a tragic yet beautiful story about how his encounter with the darker reality of life made sware to always help someone in need. From a young age, he and his brother started visiting cancer hospitals and hospices in Nalgonda to spread happiness and joy among depressed patients and their families. In Class 10, Vinil launched a student venture—Smiley’s Cancer Foundation where he asked his classmate to donate INR 1 from their allowances. That might sound like a small amount to us, but he had managed to collect INR 30 from his classmates and bought medicines, groceries, and other supplies to distribute it among the people who needed it.
Post-graduation, in 2015, he launched Abhisti which now has a network of 34000 volunteers across 56 pan-India branches. From serving food to 1000 people a day, health drinks to 2000 kids, career counselling sessions for 4.5 lakh students and adopting Narsimhapur village near Nalgonda where women now have skill-based livelihood opportunities and farmers practice organic farming, he plans to spread more happiness with the help of more volunteers. Did you know, Abhisti has reserved a platform at Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station in Hyderabad, where free meals are served to people all through the night? That's just awesome!
His efforts might not have garnered him mainstream limelight, but Vinil Reddy is a genuine youth icon, who aims to become the guiding light and a shoulder of support for the helpless and needy.
This was first published on The Better India. You can read the full story here.