This Diwali, 122 students of Delhi Public School, Bangalore, in a compassionate gesture will light up the lives of 2,500 cataract patients. In just 45 days, they managed to crowdfund Rs 25 lakh for their operations.

Cataract is a common problem affecting millions of older people in India. It is a medical condition in which the lens of the eye becomes progressively opaque, resulting in blurred vision.

Fueladream.com, a crowdfunding platform set a crowd fund target of Rs20,000 (for each student). Students as young as 12 years of age participated and exceeded their own expectations.

Gowri Harish, a class XI DPS student said that she has seen how cataract affected people when her grandmother who loved reading had to stop because of her cataract. After her surgery, Gowri even taught her to use a smartphone. This motivated Gowri to take up the idea of crowdfunding and change lives of other cataract patients who couldn’t afford the expensive surgery.

Global Eye Foundation and Rotary Club had started this project to help cataract patients by providing surgeries at a very low rate of Rs1000. They along with fueladream.com later approached about 1500 students at DPS east and DPS E-city in Bangalore and have garnered the support of many students for the noble cause.