Bengaluru kids have done the city proud. 110 students of Vidyashilp Academy, Yelahanka have raised Rs 35.8 lakh in just 10 days for cataract surgeries of 3,580 senior citizens. The children took to a crowdfunding platform – FuelADream.com – through which they helped raise funds for surgeries of 3,580 elderly residents of villages in the Hoskote-Kolkar-Chintamani belt. The initial target was set at Rs 22.4 lakh for surgeries of 2,400 senior citizens.

Four students were able to collect more than Rs 1 lakh – Khushi Karmokar (Rs 1,35,611), Gaayathri Dinesh Thampi, (Rs 1,32,000), Mahika Pai Mizar (Rs 1,15,500), and Karan Dadlani (Rs 1,03,000). According to The Times of India, 16-year-old Karmokar said, “I was skeptical if I’d manage to collect even Rs 20,000, which was our initial goal. But after we were trained by Ranganath Thota, the founder of this platform, I was super excited and couldn’t wait to get home and start the campaign.”

A city-based NGO, Rotary Bangalore, Indiranagar, has subsidized the surgeries from Rs 4,200 to Rs 1,000. Non-profit organization, The Global Eye Foundation, will carry out the surgeries.

The news was published in The Times of India and The Quint.