“If every young person gives even one or two hours a week to society, this country can progress faster than we imagine.

That belief took root during my intermediate days after watching a program about children battling cancer. At home, my aunt asked, “What can we do for them?” I didn’t have an answer, but I knew I had to find one.

In my first year of Engineering, I began volunteering. By my second year, I started a college initiative with donation boxes in canteens. What began as students contributing spare change grew into nearly ₹2 lakhs in a month. Instead of routing it through organizations, we went directly to hospitals like Basavatarakam and Gandhi and paid patients’ bills ourselves.

One moment changed me forever. A four-year-old girl couldn’t be discharged because her family lacked ₹22,000. Her mother was in tears. We cleared the bill and quietly left. That day, I learned that compassion matters only when it becomes action.

What started on one campus grew into a network of over 3,400 volunteers across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Together, we organized health camps, supported cancer treatments, and distributed surplus food to people in need.

Alongside this, I built a career in aviation as an Avionics Engineer, maintaining aircraft systems, ensuring safety standards for domestic and international airlines, and working on software used in aircraft. My days often began at 3:30 AM. During engineering, I spent 2.5 years in the United States through a student exchange program. Life there was comfortable, but it didn’t feel like mine. I could have stayed. Instead, I chose to come back and later took a sabbatical to focus more deeply on social impact.

Today, I serve as the youngest General Secretary in the history of the Telangana Development Forum and as President of the Association of Social Workers, connecting 1,600 NGOs and nearly 40,000 students across India. Through ventures in software, construction, and events, I support these efforts while personally contributing about 85% of my earnings.

Through Mana Panta Mana Vanta, we’ve connected with 86 villages across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha, helping preserve 64 native rice varieties and millets. Through Sankalp Yatra and our CSR Summit, we bring corporates, NGOs, and government bodies together to drive grassroots development. The model facilitated commitments worth ₹56 crores in Srikakulam alone and is now expanding to tribal regions across 12 states.

During COVID, we established 56 care centres, including ICUs for police personnel, served 20,000-30,000 meals daily, and helped conduct cremations when families could not be present.

I’ve received 16 Governor’s Medals, but the real reward isn’t a medal or a title. It’s knowing that a question I couldn’t answer as a teenager became the purpose of my life.

“What can we do for them?”

I’ve spent the years since trying to answer it.”

— Vinil Reddy Adudodla