Eighteen college students are raising funds for hearing devices that will allow deaf kids from needy families to hear again. The students of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) wanted to raise ₹3.78 lakh and get at least 16 Siemens hearing devices for students of the Holy Cross Higher Secondary School for the hearing impaired at Sathuvachari, Vellore, but in close to two weeks have already raised ₹3.98 lakh through crowdfunding.
For Vandana Sundaresan and her classmates at VIT, their annual visit to The Holy Cross Higher Secondary School is something they look forward to. “This year, we decided to conduct an audiometry test to see the extent of damage to their hearing and see if something can be done. Kevin Ressul, who runs Sri Sai Hearing Solutions in Vellore, assisted us with the tests. The tests showed us that 10 kids have the scope to hear better if they have good devices,” said Sundaresan, who is spearheading the campaign on Fueladream.com, a crowdfunding platform.
“Some of these children use analog devices now, not digital. Most of these analog devices do not have features like decibel control. We are in touch with Siemens through our partners and we hope to have the devices at Vellore in one or two weeks,” she added.
With each device’s cost pegged at ₹21,000, the group of 18 students started individual campaigns to raise ₹3.78 lakh. Their campaign has been received well with 215 donors contributing ₹3.98 lakh till date. Sundaresan says the excess funds collected will be used to provide the children with additional batteries besides other needs of the school.
Ranganath Thota, founder of FuelADream, said that it was a wonderful initiative by the students. “It has high impact and is easy to implement. Crowdfunding is a great enabler and will ensure sufficient funds are raised to meet the needs of the students,” he said.
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