Crowdfunding — the practice of raising small amounts of money from a large number of people — has helped students of Deens Academy, situated here, raise ₹28.64 lakh in 17 days to help amputees get back on their feet with prosthetic limbs.

The 104 students, studying in grades 9 to 12 who took part in the campaign, have been successful in raising money beyond their initial target of ₹22,000.

Each student had a target of helping two disabled individuals by providing them prosthetic limbs.

The cost of each limb is ₹11,000, provided at a subsidised rate by Freedom Thought — an NGO that works for the welfare of the economically backward disabled persons.

The cost includes examining the individual, taking measurements for the prosthetic limb and training on the useage.

The actual cost of the prosthetic limb varies from ₹30,000-40,000.

Overwhelming response

The crowdfunding campaign, which began on June 1, was extended by a week till June 21 due to the overwhelming response.

When Fueladream, a Bengaluru-based crowdfunding platform which raises funds for creative ideas, causes, charities and events, approached Deens Academy, the principal thought that it would be a great opportunity for the students to understand the plight of the disabled.

“Students learn to think beyond themselves and work for a community. Giving back to society is an important aspect of their lives.

They learn how to deal with financial aspects of community service. Going further, they can initiate a crowd funding for the causes they believe in; this process gives them independence to do something on their own,” said Shanthi Menon, Principal of Deens Academy.

Students were assisted by Fueladream with a structured process on how and who to approach for the funds, when to put it up on the social media, and the medium to be used to spread the cause and raise the funds.

“An amputee goes through much more than not having a leg; he lacks confidence and freedom and is not able to go on with life as others would usually do. All this motivated me to get the campaign started,” said Manezah Ziddik, grade 11 student from the school, who has raised the highest amount of ₹1,29,951 in the campaign.

Spreading the message

“I tried to stick to the guidelines it (Fueladream) suggested and targetted the right set of people to get the maximum contribution. I only approached people who could help me spread the message and I sent a personal message to each individual with whom I shared my campaign. I guess it helped,” said Ziddik, when asked how she was able to raise the amount.

Deens Academy’s “Back-on-their-feet" initiative is organised in partnership with Freedom Trust. The NGO conducts camps to identify disabled people in need of prosthetic limbs, organises camps to assess and take measurement of the beneficiaries and train them on using the prosthetic limbs in over six districts in Karnataka, including Coorg, Kushalnagar, Madikeri, Mysore, Chikkamagaluru and Karkala.

S Sunder, Managing Trustee of the NGO, is assisted by qualified prosthetic engineers to implant the limbs.

The campaign has empowered the students to speak with conviction for a cause and made them capable of garnering money from the public for the same.

The writer is an intern with BusinessLine, Bengaluru