Seven youngsters from Suryapet, with salaries less than Rs 15,000
PM, have been setting apart 20% of their pay to serve the poor.
Suryapet: Seven youngsters from the district have set an excellent example for others that service to humanity doesn’t necessarily have to flow from donations. With ‘giving back to society’ as their motto, the seven, whose salaries are less than Rs 15,000 a month, set up a voluntary organisation in 2014 and have been consistently setting apart 20 per cent of their salaries towards social service.
Gangapura Ganesh, Kaki Srinivas Reddy, Guntur Natesh, Perum Vijay Kumar, Pallarapu Ganesh and Thundu Sathish, all natives of Patharlapahad in Athmakur (S) mandal in the district, shared a common desire to help others, and subsequently joined hands to float ‘Wake Society’, a voluntary organisation on January 1, 2014. Undeterred by their low salaries and endowed with a big heart, they never sought money from donors.
Their social service activities range from distributing slates to students of government schools to conducting free health camps in their areas. They also took up planting of one lakh saplings in their area under Haritha Haram as a challenge and involved other youth and students to achieve their objective. To create awareness among the public about the value of a vote in democracy, they have been taking up awareness rallies in villages under their mandal and urging people to exercise their franchise in every election.
Speaking to Telangana Today, founder president of the society, Gangapura Ganesh, who works as a lab technician, said the common desire brought them together to take up social service activities in the area. “We have been distributing all-in-one study material for 10th class students of government schools at Patharlaphad and Athmakur(S) every year. In addition, we also distributed plates to students of primary schools for use during mid-day meals besides clothes to poor students every year,” he said.
Another major achievement of the group was in increasing polling percentage to 90 per cent from 70 per cent in sevaral villages in the area in the 2018 Assembly elections through a week-long awareness campaign. “We are also close to achieving our target of planting one lakhs saplings under Telangana Ku Haritha Haram.,” he said
During the pandemic, the seven friends distributed masks and sanitizers to villagers and created awareness among them about Covid-19. “Our services are not merely confined to our native place. We also take up social service activities in Suryapet town to help the poor and the students,” Ganesh said.
“There is a need to inculcate the habit of giving back to society, particularly in native places by the youth, specially those who are educated and are employed,” he said.
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