BENGALURU: As students in Bengaluru discuss and debate to great lengths about issues that plague the city, four girls from Vidyashilp Academy decided to take a step further.
Bangalore Reach Organization (BRO) is a student-run non-profit organization formed in 2014. The founder Ayushi Mukhopadhyay says, “The Nirbhaya case was still fresh in our minds then and during one of our discussions a friend said ‘We're young. What can we possibly do?’ This got me thinking... we are told we are the leaders of tomorrow but why wait till tomorrow. Hence BRO was formed.”
Their first project was a cupcake carnival on August 29, 2014. “Our biggest worry was that the 687 cupcakes and other desserts won't sell,” says Ayushi. “But it was all gone within hours and we raised over Rs 64,000.” This was used to rebuild the windows at SKID (Sheila Kothavala Institute for the Deaf) and buy books and uniforms for its students.
The next bake sale was at TISB MUN (The International School Bangalore - Mock United Nations) and it brought them over Rs 1 lakh. On March 4 and 5, 2017, BRO and 50 student volunteers used the proceeds to rebuild Maruthy Dog Shelter in Sarjapur. They bathed the dogs, levelled the ground, cemented the walls, sand papered the pillars and lastly gave the shelter a new coat of paint.
Their most recent project was ‘Viva La Brunch’ on April 22 and 23 at Skyye UB city. The BRO junior team enrolled children and young adults for a seven-hour class in Asian-European cuisine by Skyye's chefs Vivek and Santosh. A fee of Rs 2,300 was collected from each participant and diners were charged Rs 1,500 per head. The BRO team raised Rs 1.5 lakh and plan to donate it to an old-age home or an orphanage.
This iniative was supported by DivyaSree, as part of their CSR initiative.