This youngster has supported 4,500 students until now

P Prasanna Vikhil,19, who is pursuing psychology from Nizam's College, runs several social initiatives around the city through his group 'Friends Being a Helping Hand'. The group feeds around 50 persons in the city every day.

The group distributes meals among the needy, books among slum children, sanitary napkins among underprivileged girls, blankets among the homeless, and conducts social awareness programmes.

"Our aim is to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 and 4, which aims at zero hunger and quality education respectively. We collect food from hotels in the city and distribute it at places including MGBS, railway stations, government hospitals and others. We have 40 volunteers in Hyderabad, Pune and Warangal" says Vikhil. Vikhil grew up in an orphanage in Warangal after he lost his father at the age of two. After completing his 10th class in 2015, he founded this group. He has been recently chosen to participate in the Model United Nations Academy conference at Jakarta in Indonesia. He also received Karmaveer Chakra Award.

"I believe that every youngster in the city should serve the society. My friends, Nadeem and Anish, helped me set up the group," says Vikhil who wishes to study clinical psychology for his masters while serving the society.

We are working towards proving quality education in government schools and slums and donate necessary items like stationary, bags and tuitions. Every year we adopt three government schools and distribute these aforementioned items. We have supported 4,500 students till now. This year, we adopted two schools near Motkur village in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district and one more at Suddala village in Nalgonda district".

He also works on issues like self-defence, hygiene and empowerment of women. He also conducts sessions about good and bad touch in different government schools around Hyderabad. Till now we have conducted these sessions in over 30 schools.

When asked how you manages funds for events he said "For every event we post our requirements on social media and ask for help from people. After collecting money, we get back to them and show where we have spent the money. There are about 1,000 people who have registered in our organisation".

They also celebrate festivals with kids in orphanages. "Kindness makes you the most beautiful person in the world, no matter what you look like" he concludes.