We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rajani Priya Ayilavarapu. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rajani Priya below.
Rajani Priya, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Seeds of compassion grow up to become a tall tree through years of nurturing the hearts of children & youth with service, care & empathy. My journey into the different walks of life during my growing years in India gave an insight into the power of youth and how effective it could be if mentored well. Children & Youth of this generation have a cocooned environment in their upbringing, with minimal to no exposure to their communities that they are living in, often not knowing what existed around, how the people are, and their conditions are! In this modern era of the world, life is driven by gadgets, digital technology and smartphones. Simple pleasures like a walk with friend, family or saying a hello to neighbors is often forgotten, or it just got digitalized, taking them away from real experiences partly taken over by ignorance, self-centered & into a shell. World needs compassion, love & care!
This provoked a thought in me and a deep desire to inspire our youth to step out and know their communities through engaging hands-on experience giving volunteering that could be fun & learning experience, empowering them to exceed their limitations to discover a new potential in them that can change the world….and Unite & Inspire was born!!! With a name that brings people together creating an inclusive environment for all ages and all walks of life – Unite & Inspire aka U&I is now a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization with Cities & Counties recognizing hundreds of our youth members positively impacting communities around us!
U&I’s mission is to unite and inspire children, youth and adults to give back to communities through volunteering and sharing resources to cultivate their growth as responsible global citizens.
The power of volunteering is beyond words, actions speak louder, and inspirations have ripple effect!
Aneesa, a 5-year-old after volunteering at a camp, came to me and said why are people waiting in the line for food, why can’t we just help them? She volunteered to conduct a Bake Sale to raise funds for helping kids in the community.
Arjun, a 6-year-old was glued to gadgets and didn’t want to step out of home, happy go lucky kid, but when he volunteered at flood disaster relief camp, he was so moved by the conditions, he started saving his essentials only to share with someone in need.
Today there are hundreds of kids in U&I like Aneesa & Arjun who are eager to make a difference in their communities!!
Rajani Priya, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a passionate entrepreneur, philanthropist, a dentist by profession and a graduate of SURE Program of C.T. Bauer College of Business, Univ., of Houston. I was actively involved assisting collaborative clinical research of Dental Schools of Boston University & Harvard University, which gave me a thorough experience of collaborations, community projects, design & development. I am recipient of “ Inspirational Honor Roll Award” for the Y 2021, given by Points of Light Foundation.
In my professional career as a dentist in India, working with people along with my team in the rural parts of India, and urban areas has developed a great understanding of community and its needs through interactive works touching the lives of unknown! Moving to USA, has opened me up to a different world, but also to the reality that people and their needs are the same in any part of the world! My hobbies of photography, singing & poetry writing brought me closer to the world around us & a different outlook of life!
As an Indian American, I felt there is so much more we could do to make our communities better. My journey into the different walks of life during my stay in India gave me an insight into the power of youth and how effective it could be if mentored well. As an immigrant to USA, observing children living in a cocooned environment with lack of knowledge about their own community that they are living in, provoked thought in me – what could I do to change this? and on one beautiful morning in 2018, determined to bring this difference, sparkled an idea that I shared with couple of people and developed into Unite & Inspire today, with a vision to empower children & youth to give back to communities with empathy, care & compassion and make an impactful journey!
It could be very stressful for youth to keep up with the expectations of academics, pushing them to anxiety, depression, irate behavior or anger management issues. Stepping out to volunteer, makes them realize there are much bigger problems than they think they have, and how people are working hard to solve it, youth would start to groom their communication skills for a good cause, emerge as leaders through a natural process of hands-on experience with a thorough knowledge of what they have taken up. Volunteering gives them mental strength, ray of hope, guidance and a belief that life can change for better anytime!
It takes a village to raise a kid… and it takes a community to raise a leader, and for this to happen all it needs is that one person to determine to step up to make a difference, and that could be you or me! Times ahead would be great one only if we make today stronger by empowering the present generation! Spirit of volunteering gives you that hope! And I am proud to see that today that seeds of compassion we sowed are sprouting to grow well in amazing ways among hundreds of youth!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
When pandemic hit the world, everything came to a stand-still but not the life! Businesses were shut down, nonprofits were on a cautious foot, but I believed this is when we turn the challenge into an opportunity to innovate! My team & I had stopped all programs and activities and swiftly turned our operations into contactless, have put in place the need of the hour -digital transformations, this made our operations not only successful but stood as a role model but many nonprofits that serve the community, and shifting the gears has tremendously improved our contributions & services, made resources easy and reachable to thousands of families across Houston and Suburbs, and today we continue the highly successful hybrid mode of operations with expanded reach of our services beyond Houston, locally and internationally!! We have worked more than ever during pandemic times, and this has become the greatest learning curve for the youth toward crisis management and succeed with timely adaptations.
Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?
Root of inspirations always starts from home and the first set of people who believed in my vision and mission were my family & friends, they have selflessly contributed with never ending excitement. Soon together along with our cofounders and their friends and families we dared to dream and cared to achieve! The strength of our mission soon found more people believe in the mission and join hands supporting us financially and morally. Our members are our biggest supporters since inception raising through crowd funding, fundraisers and campaigns. Corporate funding through matching program and from businesses like Code Ninjas, CGHCF grant and partnership with nonprofits like Texana Center, established revenue streams in support of our mission, and we continue to seek funding and grants to make this mission resonate among children & youth alike!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.uniteandinspire.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unite.inspire/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/unite.inspire
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uniteandinspire
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/UniteInspire
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcKyy4vffdtcs5-UD018Nxw
- Other: https://greatnonprofits.org/org/unite-inspire
Image Credits
Priya, Nicole Serle, Reshmy Nikith,Hemachandra