Wanting to make a difference to the lives of such teenagers, a group of five has taken up the humongous task of educating over 150 children every year. It all began when S Saravana Prabhu, M Rajagopal, M Vijayaraman, P Vinayagamurthi and S Sujatha came together at an alumni meet after 19 years. Finding that they all had a similar view on most issues they decided to form a large group comprising caring people, who would extend help to those who are in need of it. While Sujatha is a housewife, Rajagopal and Vijayaraman are IT professionals, Vinayagamurthy works in a magazine and Saravana Prabhu is a government employee.
“We had been classmates from LKG to Class 12 at Nehru MHSS, Tiruvottiyur. To give colour to our alumni meet, we called it arco iris (meaning rainbow in Spanish). But it also turned out to be the name of the trust we decided to start on that day,” said Sujatha. Established on August 16, 2013, Arco Iris Foundation was renamed Chennai Foundation, in November 2016. The foundation aims to provide assistance, support and guidance to students from rural and underprivileged backgrounds.
Originally written for DTNext, read more at https://www.dtnext.in/News/Citizen/2016/12/19104346/1023832/Fiveman-army-helps-fund-needy-teens-college-dreams.vpf