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PURE Youth San Antonio

Texas

PURE Youth, a leadership program, specifically aims to facilitate discussion and awareness of the impact that education has on society through numerous projects and fundraising. PURE Youth also supports projects from all program areas and causes PURE champions which gives the ambassadors an opportunity to understand the depth and breadth of the issue, solution and impact on the lives they are helping change.

The San Antonio branch was created through Veda Atluri, who was the first director for this current chapter. Veda contacted Hema Kanthammeni, the head of the PURE Youth organization, as she was interested in bringing this non-profit, volunteering organization to San Antonio. After getting the approval she needed, Veda reached out to her connections, including family and friends to assemble and organize a functioning chapter. Although the chapter started out small, more ambassadors were recruited to help the community. San Antonio is rich with diversity, which makes it possible to communicate different ideas with a lot of people. Through the hard work put in by the ambassadors since the chapter started, the San Antonio branch will continue to grow!

The San Antonio Pure chapter started in August of 2018. We originally started as a very small group and slowly recruited other people we thought would be fit to partake in this branch. So far, we have had around 4 projects to work on and have set up more than 5 fundraisers for these projects. We are a very hard working and determined group, who try and exceed the requirements every time we are given a task. We are all heavily involved in our community and enjoy helping others in our free time. San Antonio is a very culturally diverse city, making us open to more ideas and communication.

Number of ambassadors: 16 (including directors)


Projects:

The 2018 projects included City Diwali booth (selling food to provide bicycles for a school in Kerala for children who walk more than 5K a day) and TASA event (to fundraise for different necessities in the Kunhome school project at Kerala)

The 2019 projects include Dinner to Door (cooking food at different locations, and delivering to customers doors), Diwali event (To raise money for a science lab in an all girls school), Garage sale (selling old items to provide support after Kerala flood), and Tamil Sangham

The 2020 project included Dinner to Go (similar to Dinner to Door in that South Asian meals were made at locations, and delivered in to-go boxes)

The 2021 projects included Trivia Night (online Kahoot trivia fundraiser during the pandemic), Park Fundraiser (baking and selling cookies and lemonade at local park during the fall), and Food Drive (putting together boxes of canned food to be dropped off at the local food bank)

The 2022 projects included Dog Treat Sale (baking, packaging, and selling dog treats to local dog-friendly neighborhoods), Tye-Dye Fundraiser (DIY tye-dying-shirt station at annual TAGSA Holi event), Mother’s Day Basket Sale (putting together and packaging mother’s day gift boxes included fun treats like kaju katli for the special Mother’s Day week), Car Wash Fundraiser (washing cars at local parking lot using soap, water, and polish), Diwali booth (offering face painting and prize wheel to kids at event for schools in Velugumatala that need proper electrical wiring, bathroom repairs, etc.), and Holiday Bake Sale (baking, packaging, and distributing holiday cookies to customers throughout neighborhoods using a customer form)


Awards, recognitions, and special contribution:

Veda Atluri - Presidential award


Directors and Ambassadors:

Directors: Sathvik Jinna and Siri Borra

Ambassadors: Sindhu Atluri, SriLaasya Lanka, Tanvi Reddy, Rohith Siddabattula, Meghana Basani, Nandini Cheruku, Dhiya Billa, Anirudh Mukkamala, Riya Jampana, Avani Gunuganti, Anvi Komatreddy, Anvitha Ellanki, Keerthana Jinna, Akshara Gurrala

Picture with all ambassadors and directors wearing their PURE t-shirts

Directors & Ambassadors

2018-February 2019

Directors: Veda Atluri and Shriya Ramireddy
Ambassadors: Eshanth Beeram, Esha Jampana, Lalitha Lanka, Priya Vadhana Raja

2019-August 2020

Directors: Veda Atluri and Eshanth Beeram
Ambassadors: Shriya Ramireddy, Krupa Amerineni, Priya Vadhana Raja, Adhi Kannu, Sindhu Atluri

2020-February 2021

Directors: Veda Atluri and Priya Vadhana Raja
Ambassadors: Shriya Ramireddy, Krupa Amerineni, Adhi Chidambaram, Sindhu Atluri, SriLaasya Lanka, Tanvi Reddy, Rohith Siddabattula, Meghana Basani, Nandini Cheruku, Dhiya Billa

2021-Dec 2022

Directors: Shriya Ramireddy and Adhi Chidambaram
Ambassadors: Sindhu Atluri, SriLaasya Lanka, Tanvi Reddy, Rohith Siddabattula, Meghana Basani, Nandini Cheruku, Dhiya Billa, Sathvik Jinna, Siri Borra, Anirudh Mukkamala

2022-2023

Directors: Sathvik Jinna and Siri Borra
Ambassadors: Sindhu Atluri, SriLaasya Lanka, Tanvi Reddy, Rohith Siddabattula, Meghana Basani, Nandini Cheruku, Dhiya Billa, Anirudh Mukkamala, Riya Jampana, Avani Gunuganti, Anvi Komatreddy, Anvitha Ellanki, Keerthana Jinna, Akshara Gurrala

Led By Children, For Children

Testimonials

I joined PURE Youth 2 years ago, and it has been an extremely eye-opening experience. Through the projects I have participated in to raise funds for the local community or to children in different continents, I have realized what an impact PURE has made with volunteering for the simple idea of helping others in need. When I joined the current San Antonio chapter and heard about the projects that were done, it exposed me to the diverse ideas and messages that PURE shares as a national organization. Currently, I am a director for this branch, and the more and more I learn about the community, the more excited I am to help make differences in people’s lives. From when I was an eager ambassador to a present director, my goal has always been the same: to advocate for more contribution and outreach in our society
- Sathvik Jinna

I started in PURE in 2018 with the branch PURE Femme. Pure Femme gave me a deeper insight on period poverty and the stigmatization of periods. During my time in PURE Femme I wrote an educational essay detailing the struggles that girls in areas of period poverty have to go through. Later in 2020, I joined the current PURE Youth San Antonio branch. Through this branch I have learned a variety of things, and I am the current manager of the PURE Youth San Antonio social media team. Being in charge of social media has taught me how to spread ideas and connect with other organizations.
- Sindhu Atluri

I joined PURE Youth in the summer. I joined because I heard from a lot of people that they liked doing PURE. I’ve learned how to communicate with people and how doing even little things help.
- Keerthana Jinna

I joined PURE to gain a better understanding of how the world around me works, and how I can serve as an important advocate for change and equality in my community. With PURE, I now have the tools and skills best fit to serve my community to the best of my ability.
- Rohith Siddabattula

I joined PURE Youth in 2020 because of my passion for making a difference in my community. My passion quickly grew to finding more ways to make a bigger impact and becoming a director of my San Antonio chapter. The main things I’ve learned from PURE is how to lead and how to connect with the community. These skills can help me in my future endeavors and I will always take what I’ve learned from PURE with me.
- Siri Borra

My name is Nandini Cheruku and I have been in PURE since 2019. I joined PURE because I truly admired the work that was being done in regards to building schools and expanding menstrual education. These kinds of projects are my favorite kind to work towards because I know that they are truly making a difference in the lives of kids. I have learned so much from how the lack of education and access to proper sanitary products is extremely dangerous to also learning how I can best help my community and what it takes for all of us to work together to make a change.
- Nandini Cheruku