Good-Hearted Helping Hands

The youth today is involved in various causes of volunteer work, be it cleaning the beach, teaching underprivileged children, rescuing injured animals, or supporting a food drive to make a difference in society. The youth have the potential to make a worthwhile contribution to humanity. With determination, creativity, energy, and hard work the young are creating ripples that turn into waves of change in society. Young people have an immense ability to make a difference by creating awareness, developing solutions, and inspiring others too. Witnessing tangible change, and opportunities to get involved is prompting the youth to volunteer actively. Youth is involved with various social activities through school colleges and independently. While not everyone can commit to full-time social work, just a few hours of voluntary service in a week can make a significant difference in society.

Benefits Of Benevolence

Even helping in a small way can make a real difference in the lives of people, animals, and the environment. Volunteering is a two-way street: It can benefit the volunteer besides the cause they choose to help. Young people become more understanding, sensitive, and patient and develop social and leadership skills. It can reduce stress, keep you mentally stimulated, provide a sense of purpose, and improve health. Dr Mamta Jain, a psychologist and social educator from Hyderabad says that doing good for someone is a noble act. Physical, financial, or emotional help are different domains, in which one can help others. “Doing good unconditionally and without expectations helps improve mental health. Listening patiently to someone who is in distress, taking care of an unwell roommate in a hostel, etc “small or big” good acts improve brain chemistry, related to chemicals known as neurotransmitters and hormones that stimulate certain areas of the brain. Acts of kindness boost   dopamine that can give us feelings of happiness. Being good improves mental health and results in satisfaction and happiness as a reward,” Dr Mamta says. Let us meet a few young people who are in their 20s and doing their bit to make the world a better place. These youth give hope that there is a scope to change the way our society functions, and if everyone starts doing small acts of kindness, we are on the way to being a happier world.

Young Lifesavers

There is a huge deficit in the demand and supply of blood in India. To bridge this gap, voluntary donation promotion is the only way out. Blood donations can save many lives. Patients with cancer, anaemia, and thalassemia, require blood frequently. Keerthi Reddy Gade (24), a software engineer from Hyderabad believes in creating awareness about blood donations. Since 2018, Keerti has been spreading the message of blood donation physically and via social media. Keerthi also helps in organising blood donation camps. “For the first time, when I got my phone during B Tech 1-st year, I learned about blood donation camps and blood requests from a group. That led me to support this cause. I joined as a volunteer in the NGO Aasya Foundation.” Despite her post-graduation and busy job schedule, she devotes 4-7 hours on weekends to social work. “I try to get donors' numbers and give them to needy people. I have helped the college in organising blood donation camps too.” Besides blood donation, Keerthi has been involved in beach cleaning activities and visits orphanages and old age homes with other volunteers of an NGO, raising funds for donations of groceries, books, and clothes.

“Doing good unconditionally and without expectations helps improve mental health.”— Dr Mamta Jain, psychologist and social educator, Hyderabad

“I try to get donors' numbers and give them to needy people. I have helped the college in organising blood donation camps too.”— Keerthi Reddy Gade, software engineer, Hyderabad

• Shah Rukh Khan’s Meer Foundation protects and empowers women and provides support and rehabilitation for female victims of crime, particularly acid attacks in India. SRK has donated around $25,000 toward relief provisions after a flood in Kerala in 2018 and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Meer Foundation donated 2,000 PPE kits to front-line workers.

• Deepika Padukone’s Live Love Laugh (LLL) foundation creates awareness about mental health, reduces the stigma associated with mental illness, and offers mental health resources. LLL’s programmes are conducted through partnerships and allow people to use the platform to request mental health counselling or find a credible therapist.

• Rajkummar Rao participates in a beach cleanup initiative post-Ganpati Visarjan at Juhu Beach. He had led the cleanliness drive at Mangrove Forest and posted on social media saying: “It was such a gratifying experience to clean the mangrove forest at Arioli Creek this morning along with the @incometax. mumbai. gov.in #Swachhata HiSeva @narendramodi ji.”

• Sonu Sood became a household name during the pandemic for his philanthropic work. He helped migrant labourers reach their hometowns during the pandemic. He has the Sood Charity Foundation which does several humanitarian works.

• Hrithik Roshan donated blood in 2022 saying: “I was told that my blood group B-negative is a rare type. Hospitals often fall short of it. Pledging to be an insignificant part of the very significant blood bank.”

• Salman Khan’s Being Human (NGO) provides education and healthcare to underprivileged children. During the pandemic, Salman gave Rs 1,500 each to approximately 25,000 Bollywood workers who were without employment due to the lockdown. He has often paid hospital bills for the needy. In 2020, Aashiqui actor Rahul Roy suffered a brain stroke. Salman helped him financially during this difficult time.

Generous Fundraisers

Whether it is volunteering, donating, or just being supportive to those in need, every little bit counts Ananya Purohit (20) Mumbai, currently pursuing an internship believes that not everyone may be able to commit to full-time social work, there are countless ways young people contribute to positive change in society, through volunteering, advocacy, or leveraging their social media networks for good. “My family has instilled in me empathy, compassion, and the need to act for desired change in society. Seeing the impact of initiatives like ‘Ayesha’ undertaken by my college committee has been eye-opening. Over the past two years, ‘Ayesha’ has made a difference in the lives of many needy providing food grains, and support to underprivileged communities. I, along with my team, raised around Rs 80,000 from students, staff, and other citizens to donate essential food grains in a village.” Ananya feels that by harnessing the energy and enthusiasm of young people, we can raise awareness about important issues, and mobilize support for meaningful causes.

Animal Welfare

Animals deserve our love and care. Animal welfare is an important cause in India. Siddhanth Gill (27) director, Marketing, Naarad PR and Image Strategists takes care of maimed abandoned and abused dogs and cats. Siddhanth’s family has always been sensitive towards animals and he has inherited this love for animals from his grandparents and mother (who is an animal activist). The family cares for orphaned dogs and cats. Whether they are tiny kittens found on the streets or injured rescued puppies offering them a second chance at life. His home has many canine and feline companions and they provide them with the love and medical care they need. “I have 13 dogs and over 60 cats at home. People come and leave their pets knowing that we will take care of them. Recently a man had abandoned the dog but she used to find her way back home. So, he put her in the car dickey to die for three days. Then someone helped the dog (named Fox) and it came to us. Today Fox is enjoying life in her old age in our home. Then we have Jerry and Appam who rose from death and gastroenteritis. TP, a dog who was blinded by a sharp object on the streets and left to die, the list goes on. But once the dogs and cats come home, they are safe and happy. And seeing them healthy and safe makes me feel very happy.” Siddhanth’s day begins with a generous dose of licks and purrs. His brother Vedant takes care of the vet part while he takes care of the feeding and grooming along with a helper. “Our vets are amazing. They always guide us. If you love something or someone enough, you will always find the time. And for family, there is always time,” he says.

“People come and leave their pets knowing that we will take care of them.”— Siddhanth Gill, director (Marketing) Naarad PR and Image Strategists

Collective Efforts

Nivan V Sadh (20) has been doing voluntary work since class 12th. In 2021, during his first year in college, he founded a student-run initiative called ‘Garuda Cell’ on campus to mobilize students towards social service. It became the official social service wing of ‘Think India HRC,’ a collective group of students from HR College for skill education and national socio-economic awareness. The first beach clean-up at Dadar post-lockdown had over 100 students participating in it. They raised awareness of water pollution and waste management. “We have been lucky to get support from NGOs and resident groups for financial help. Today, the student body I founded has over 100 active students that work almost daily to plan, execute, and fund the social service activities lined up in the coming weeks and months,” says Nivan, who has completed his final BMS year examinations from H.R. College of Commerce and Economics Mumbai. Currently, he works as an intern in the office of Milind Deora, Rajya Sabha MP. The recent project – ‘Sakhi’ used crowdfunding to provide sanitary napkins to underprivileged girls in Maharashtra. He says, “We managed to collect enough to provide reusable sanitary napkins to 100 impoverished households that did not have access to menstrual hygiene. Students and their parents gave us financial support.” While Nivan had the advantage of being brought up in a relatively privileged family, it was often disturbing for him to see the conditions of people living in underprivileged areas, and that motivated him to do voluntary work. “The smiles on the faces of people who I help inspire me. It is easy to manage studies with something you are passionate about, which in my case is social service. I have conducted over 30 social service activities in the last three years as a part of the student body,” he says.

“The student body I founded has over 100 active students that work almost daily to plan, execute, and fund the social service activities.” — Nivan V Sadh, founder, Garuda Cell