Volunteer Man of India

My dream is to inspire everyone to volunteer. Promoting volunteering is my passion. I strongly believe, if there are more volunteers, more good will happen in the world says Volunteer Man Of India

Please do a brief about the vision of Team Everest NGO?

Our vision is to inspire everyone to volunteer.

We strongly believe in giving. If there were more givers in this world, we could solve more problems. Our vision is to make volunteering a habit as a day-to-day lifestyle.

As a family, we go to a movie. As a family, we go to shopping. As a family, we go to religious places like temples, churches, and mosques. But as a family, why are we NOT volunteering?

It's important to inculcate that habit of volunteering.

State and central governments collect taxes from people trying to help the poor.

We have 3 million non-profits trying to help the needy.

Despite all this, you can still see many problems in our country.

If an individual could take ownership, we could solve many more of these problems and accelerate the change in our country.

So that's our vision - ‘Inspiring Everyone to Volunteer’.

What is your motto behind starting this NGO?

Our philosophy is that if there are more givers in society, we could solve more problems. That’s why we create more givers in society by inspiring people to volunteer. We create this culture of volunteering by creating easy, diverse volunteering opportunities for people. Our motto is, ‘Everyone can be great because everyone can make a difference

What inspired you to start Team Everest NGO?

I was born and brought up in Arni, a small town in Tiruvannamalai District in Tamil Nadu, India. I did my 7th to 10th std in a school in rural place where I came across many students from financially poor backgrounds.

I often recollect one of my friends who struggled to get even a long-size notebook, which cost Rs 25 at that time. My teacher punishes him by making him kneel down or making him stand outside the classroom.

My friend used to work with his father, who is a cycle mechanic, after school hours to earn extra income so that he could buy a notebook. He used to earn Rs 2 or Rs 3 a day. It will take him 10 to earn Rs 25, after which he will buy a notebook.

Till the time he purchases a notebook, he will get punishment from my teacher.

Many students whom I met till my 10th grade used to come from a very poor financial background like this.

In 10th grade, I scored good marks. So, my mother borrowed money and put me into one of the top 10 private schools in Chennai for my 11th standard with the hope that I would score good marks during my 12th grade.

I found that many of my new school friends were from well-to-do families, which is a complete contrast to the kind of people I met in my old rural school.

Also, the quality of education I got in the new school was 100-200 times better than what I got in my rural school.

The fact that only privileged children can get the best education broke my heart.

I always say, "If you have money, you get one kind of education. If you don't, you get a different one altogether."

I believe every child deserves equal access to education, irrespective of their background.

I decided that one day I would change it all.

During my 11th and 12th standard, I was staying in a hostel, and I could not do much about this.

In 2002, I joined Metallurgy Engineering in Salem. During my weekend, I started volunteering locally by visiting visually challenged homes, orphanages, and old age homes.

During my final year in 2006, we had campus placement in my college, and I was campus recruited by Cognizant, an IT Company.

I decided to give part of my first month's salary to educate children. I asked my friends whether they to can help. 3 of my friends agreed to help, and I raised Rs 4000.

We went to a village called 'Sirumoor' in Tamil Nadu. We identified children who were financially poor and struggled like my friend. We gave them uniforms, notebooks, and dictionaries.

This was the first activity of Team Everest.

Ever since that first activity, I never stopped volunteering until this second.

From Aug 2006 to Dec 2014, while working in Cognizant, I managed both office and Team Everest work.

To balance both, I spent my time before and after office hours and on weekends volunteering. I used to work 12 to 15 hours a day to manage both my office and Team Everest work.

Precisely after 100 months, on Dec 31, 2014,?I quit my IT job to work full-time for Team Everest and promote volunteering in India.

In 16 years of my volunteering journey, Team Everest has inspired 1 Lakh+ individuals to volunteer and touched the lives of 1 million children.

Tell us about some success stories of students in brief?

Success story 1: Karthik - Samosa Seller to Assistant Manager in Royal Enfield!

Karthick was selling samosas in 2008.

His dad is a street snack vendor. After school hours and on holidays, Karthick used to help his dad sell samosas.

Karthick completed his schooling overcoming many hurdles including a brain tumour which took him many visits to the hospital. He is poor but hardworking. He scored more than 80% in his 12th grade. Unable to afford college, Karthick decided to quit education and started selling samosas on street.

That’s when Team Everest NGO spotted him. We came to know about his background. We asked him what he wants to become? He said that he wants to be an automobile engineer but do not have money even to buy an application form.

We asked our volunteers for help. They donated and today Karthik is an automobile engineer. He works now in Royal Enfield as an assistant manager.

A boy who could have ended on the streets is now a happy man. He bought his own home in Chennai, lives with his wife and child. This is how education can turn around lives.

Karthick was one of the very first students of our Team Everest NGO scholarship. To date, we have sponsored 2500 such students.

Success Story 2: Regamitha - A Daughter of a single mother who became a lawyer!

Cancer ruined everything. It took away my father from us.

From then, my mother started doing four to five jobs to educate my sister and me.

She rarely rests and slept only for few hours a day. She worked hard for our family.

I used to study in a private school till my father was alive. After my father’s demise, due to financial constraints, I moved to a Govt School.

I worked hard and scored 97% in my 12th grade. I dreamed of becoming a lawyer. Money is the only thing that stood between me & my dream. Luckily, Team Everest used to select and support girls in the Govt School where I studied. I applied and got selected for Team Everest's scholarship, which changed my life.

Without @teameverestngo I would have lost my confidence and faith.

I completed my law degree from the School of Excellence in Law (Ambedkar university).

A few days back, I enrolled in the bar council. I saw my mother's smile. Felt more satisfying than anything in this world.

Today I'm a lawyer and proud of what I have come through.

I will give all this back to society one day.

-???????Regamitha Radharaj | Lawyer.

As a country like India, how do you feel this kind of social challenge can be addressed?

Ours is a very diverse country, geographically huge and culturally divided. You have language barriers. There are people of all age groups. So, it's essential to address this issue of volunteering.

Much volunteering already happens at different levels, formal and informal. Many people help through religious organizations as well.

Still, there is a lot of untapped potential in our country.

We are a developing country.

We have developed, developing, and people who need help.

If we create a culture of volunteering in India, the developed and developing people can easily help the people in need and help them grow.

Central governments and state governments are trying to help people by collecting taxes.

Many non-profits are trying to help people who are in need by collecting donations.

But, still, we could see a lot of problems in our country.

This is because we want Government and non-profits to solve the problem.

We are ignoring individuals who can actually solve a lot of problems quickly and efficiently.

Let’s take an example.

Imagine a mother and a child from a financially well-to-do background. If the child has a problem, the mother will not wait for a government or non-profit to solve her child's problem. She solves it by herself. Quicker & efficiently.

Now, let’s see the other side. Imagine another mother and a child, this time from a financially poor background. If the child has a problem, in most cases, the mother does not know how to solve the problem or does not have enough resources to solve it.

The mother & child have to wait for a Government or a Non-profit organization to solve their problems.

Instead, if we can make the human being next door to volunteer, they can solve the problem of the child quickly and efficiently.

Remember, it's a human being who stays next door to the child, not an NGO, or corporate, or government.

That’s why it is important to create a culture of giving and empower individuals to help.

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Do you think government can address this?

The government is already addressing many issues. We are not here to replace the government. Typically, the government is just another entity to serve people. So, serving people and helping humanity can happen in any form. It could be a government or a non-profit organization. It could be individuals or some groups of people.

End of the day, what matters is whether we are helping people who need help. That's all it matters.

It could be an individual. It could be a group, or it could be anyone.

Are we kind to others?

Are we lifting people?

Are we making people happy?

It doesn't matter who does this and how it is done.

The end goal is to help people in need and we build a world where everyone is happy!

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Please do brief how people can volunteer in Everest NGO?

Every month, we create different volunteering opportunities. We have at least 5000 to 10,000 Volunteering slots, which are available?on our website - www.teameverest.ngo/events

People can see these events, learn about them and sign up as a volunteer for any of them.

They can even register as a volunteer?here?- www.teameverest.ngo/volunteer so we can notify them every month about different volunteering opportunities.

If you wish to reach out to us, you can WhatsApp us at +91 22 5032 3341.

Happy Volunteering!

Feel free to contact me about speaker events, comments, and anything else at [email protected]! You can also connect with me on?LinkedIn, follow me on?Medium, and check out my??www,thefirststephasini.com,?or?Instagram

The First Step book, which I wrote, is all about the true stories of young achievers. You can order a copy of the book by simply clicking on the following link:

Shri. M. Venkaiah Naidu, former Vice President of India, and Dr. Shylendra Babu, DGP of Tamil Nadu, wrote the foreword to the book.

You can also watch more young achievers interview at

I would like to invite you to my next book launch Whizz Kidz ... Lessons from Little Legends in the month of January 2023 . If you are living in Chennai and want to be part, request you to DM me so that I can send out invitations when it is ready.

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