By Dr.Prahalathan K K | Co-founder
On March 18, I was in a room full of celebrities, volunteer heroes and organisations that engaged volunteers across the country. It was the grand finale of the iVolunteer Awards in Mumbai, India and Bhumi was one of the finalists in the Leader in Volunteer Engagement category. As the nine finalists for the award were being announced, my heart rate started rising; as the envelope was called for and the chief guest of the evening, actor Mr. Abhishek Bachchan was opening the envelope, my heart was nearly thudding in excitement. When he announced ‘and the winner is … Bhumi!’ I was flooded with so much emotion, words failed me in my acceptance speech on behalf of the organisation.
It seems a long time ago, but it was just eight years back when my co-founders and I were taking baby steps to volunteering as a group that later became Bhumi. Our passion to do something for the country led us to education. Our first volunteering effort to teach in a children’s home was an epic failure!
A small break was created due to exams and vacation. When we approached the Secretary of the children’s home to restart the classes, we were asked to submit a report about how the children benefitted from our classes. This was an eye opener; we didn’t have an answer, and hence we were unable to resume our classes there. We learnt our most valuable lesson then; that we cannot waste the time of these children by doing ‘something’ just because we were volunteering.
It brought our dreams of changing the nation crashing down, but from there we had only one direction to go, up! It’s the sheer passion, determination of each of the hundreds of volunteers we have touched through Bhumi and people like you that has brought the organisation here. In 2013, we involved over 3,000 volunteers across the country. In 2014, we need to reach out to 10,000 young people and by 2020 we hope to engage 1,00,000 volunteers for India! Call me a dreamer but some day I see volunteerism becoming a national habit. Whether Bhumi will be the platform or a catalyst, only time will tell but I know for sure when we Change Today … we Change Tomorrow!
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