Summer delight from Vijayawada Rotaractors
With an objective to provide a respite through simple refreshments to people during the scorching summer, the Rotaract Club of Vijayawada Midtown, D 3020, held ‘Beat the Heat’ camps at busy thoroughfares in the city from mid-March to end-June. The club has been providing such relief in summer ever since it was chartered six years ago.
Though a seasonal project, during peak summer at least 20 Rotaractors fan out across various areas of Vijayawada to provide buttermilk, lemon juice and soda on every alternate day for the residents and traffic policemen who sweat it out under sizzling temperatures, said DRR MVB Manognya. “It is good to acknowledge the service of public servants who are working on the roads under the scorching sun to ensure the safety of pedestrians and commuters. Our team reaches out to not less than 1,000 beneficiaries every week under this summer project.”
Working class, self-employed and young entrepreneurs form majority of this 55-member community club. Three factors — budget, availability of Rotaractors and support from the parent Rotary club — determine the reach and extent of the refreshment camps. “Our parent club, RC Vijayawada Midtown, supports us financially and through resources,” said Manognya. The club collects a membership fee of `500 from its Rotaractors.
“Rotaractors from the Potti Sriramulu Chalavadi Mallikarjuna Rao College of Engineering and Technology have added the strength and enthusiasm of the student fraternity to the Beat the Heat drive over the last two years, thus enhancing our visibility in the community,” said Tagore Maddali, President, RAC Vijayawada Midtown.
While Maddali is looking forward to “take up many new programmes”, he is elated that a deaf and dumb girl student from Class 6 that his club had supported by paying tuition fees, food and accommodation expenses, has done very well in her Class 10 exam.
