ONGOLE: Meet Sudheer Babu, a small time welder, but with a heart of gold. He has been feeding destitutes and orphans, especially during Covid-19, without expecting anything in return.
With the support of local donors and his own money, he feeds the poor and needy. He carries out social service activities through ‘Sneha Hastham’, a voluntary organisation started by him eight years ago, with the support of his friends and relatives.
If there are no donors, or at times, when there are no marriages, birthdays or other functions in town, Sudheer and his family members cook food and donate the same. “If our van (carrying food) gets delayed in reaching a particular point, the regular food mongers express their anger on us, but with a lot of affection and love. Whenever they see our vehicle, a vivid glow kindles up their faces,” he explains.
He runs ‘Dinesh Engineering Garage’ in Kanigiri town of Prakasam district. Known as the ‘welding shop Babu’, Sudheer began doing social service since the past decade. D Sudheer Babu (45), elder son of D Mohan Rao and Krupamma, studied till Intermediate. He dropped out of ITI and became a welder in Kanigiri.
How did it all start?
He recalls, “Ten years ago, I saw a beggar shooing away street dogs, while foraging for food in a dustbin at a marriage function hall. The sight brought tears to my eyes. Immediately, I went to the marriage function managers and took a plate of food and offered it to the beggar. That was when I decided not to let any destitute go hungry.”
From then onwards, he started working double time to fund his social service activities. He was delighted when he got his family’s support. “My wife Anitha, daughter Mary Sunitha and son D Mohan Kumar, all concurred with what I was do ing,” he says.
During the pandemic, he and the members of ‘Sneha Hastham’ supplied food, fruits, medicines and drinking water to Covid-19 positive patients under home isolation or at government quarantine centres. They donated blood and plasma to the needy patients to save their lives. Till date, they have donated nearly 100 units of blood and 30 units of plasma to the Covid-19 positive patients.
This apart, members of ‘Sneha Hastham’ provided water purifiers, desks, refrigerators among others to the local government schools with the support of some philanthropists. Government officials of the revenue, police, medical departments take the team’s help in conducting various awareness campaigns and relief activities.
Along with Sudheer, Baby Raju, Akbar Vali, Bhaskar, Sivasankar, Jacob, Imam Hussain, Gouse, Narayana, Saida, Mohankumar, Narendra, Sunitha are members of the ‘Sneha Hastham’. Majority of the members belong to the lower middle class and very less educated. “We have the same attitude towards doing service to the needy. We get satisfaction by helping the needy and will continue doing it,” he says.