HANAMKONDA : For people living in orphanages or old-age homes, dining out, watching movies in theatres or going to a concert are distant dreams. However, a group of like-minded persons, under Sulakshya Seva Samithi (SSS), has been trying to bring smiles to the faces of such people since 2013.
Led by founder-president Santhosh Manduva, the SSS has been instrumental in making the lives of ‘ignored residents’ a little more cheerful and contributing to their social well-being. He embarked on this journey after experiencing a huge rush of joy when he donated a water filter to an old-age home during his college days in 2008.
“When we interacted with them (children in orphanages and elderly persons at old-age homes) a couple of times asking them what they need, they started opening up and stating their desires. While one would ask to watch a movie at a multiplex, someone else would want to go for an outing whereas the elderly couple residing in an old-age home wanted us to arrange a concert. Then we realised that a warm hug, a gentle touch and a gesture of togetherness is what they need apart from the materialistic needs,” says Santhosh.
“We love these annas (brothers) who keep us surprising on a regular basis. They take us to movies, restaurants, heritage sites, amusement parks and various other places, celebrate festivals and other important occasions with us. When we knew that we would be taken to one of the world’s largest amusement parks, Wonderla, all of us were sleepless the night before eagerly waiting for that moment to arrive,” says a jubilant Vishnu from Oasis orphanage, in a video shared on SSS’ YouTube channel.
Apart from these, they have been adopting government schools, setting up libraries, providing financial assistance to meritorious and poor students, providing educational support like infrastructure development and stationery needs, organising health camps, sapling plantation drives, conducting pep talks on personality development, career guidance, stress management, cracking competitive exams and other contemporary issues.
They also carry out blanket donation drives for the homeless during winters, felicitating unsung heroes, distributing clay Ganesh idols, blood donation drives, voter awareness campaigns and providing basic needs to orphanages, old-age homes. Santhosh also mentions that former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam had invited him to the Raj Bhavan on May 13, 2015, after learning about their philanthropic activities and gifted him his autobiography, Wings of Fire.