Our heroes

Ruma has been feeding and looking after street animals for last 20years.she does everything on her own capacity and really helped during the lockdown feeding the stray animals who had no means of food and water as all hotels,shops etc were closed.

Rukmini Mehta

Shiraz has been a volunteer in so many places for so many years. Over the years I have seen him give of himself and make numerous sacrifices to help others. Most recently he has helped to renovate places of worship, fixing homes of those who can not afford the repairs and visiting and bringing food to seniors. It is inspiring to see someone care so much about others and give so much of themselves.

Farial Hamir

MEET OUR YOUNGEST HERO!!

She is a young 8 year old artist who is working hard to bring a smile on people’s faces thru her Colors. She creates art and then converts them into household products like trays, boxes, coasters etc. and sells them to collect funds for charity. She is associated with a Foundation called ‘Vishalakshi Foundation’ whose aim to feed and educate the needy. She uses her collection to conduct food drives and run slum schools across 4 slums in India.

Abhilasha

Amrita, known to many as Pinky didi, is my (and I’m sure countless others) ‘everyday hero’. She is kindness personified. A genuine and generous soul who has, for decades, supported family, extended family, friends, the community and those in their time of need without any regard to her own comfort or challenges. She works long hours, sleeps little and has accomplished so much and shared with so many! With a beatific smile through it all. She’s been a Girl Scout leader, supported Rutherford Elks and Amigos de las Americas to name just a few of the organizations who have benefited from her leadership. She’s touched an untold number of lives and is truly an inspiration to us all.

Nandini Mongia

An intelligent, kind and caring person. In my life have met many kind and intelligent people. Varsha is extraordinarily full of kindness. Always there for people and animals in need. People and animals tend to sense a kindred / kind spirit and graviate to her in times of need or just when they need a friendly caring soul.

Hard working and professional when she works and equally hard working and caring when she sees people requiring support or animals in distress. No one incident or story can capture her "heroness".

People like her, most often, rarely get recognized because they don't seek adulation, fame, or self promotion but people like her are the reason why we need to highlight and felicitate her and others like her.

Arun Ramnarayan

Heroes Everywhere is deeply touched and inspired by the work of Tinysuperheroes. Much like us, but way beyond- they focus on little children as heroes. They honour and celebrate children who are diagnosed with a disability or an illness, who are not let down by their limitations, instead these little souls live life their fullest and happiest! They do this in the sweetest possible way- by offering a cape to each nominated hero. Isn’t this lovely!! Children impersonate their superheroes who wear a cape and do wonderful things to keep the world safe and happy. The cape is personalized for each child with their initials 😊. The cape and recognition goes a long way for these children who then stand even stronger, supported and committed to battle all odds. Their act of bravery energizes their parents, caregivers and other families who may be going through a similar experience.

Tiny Super Heroes also offers specialized squads like the Patches Program- a support group for parents, and an Angel Squad.

They have reached out to over 60,000 kids world-wide. No matter what, each child gets their cape!! We love the way they have created this initiative with a sustainable mindset. Each nomination follows a Cape Campaign which is opened up crowd-funding. Upto $50 goes to the nominated cape hero and any remaining funds go to others future cape nominees.

While we always pray that no child should suffer…should it unfortunately happen it is organizations like Tiny Super Heroes that brings the light, enthusiasm and joy to the little and their families.

Heroes Everywhere is humbled beyond words and encourages its community to give a big shout-out for Tiny Super Heroes.

Discover the organisation

Shankarji cares for older cows who have no economic use and would otherwise be slaughtered. In Hinduism cow seva (service) is the highest form of seva and most gaushalas (cow stables) in the USA take care of the cows who give milk, so are economically profitable. Shankarji, however cares for those that are aging and not giving milk which makes his seva totally selfless.

He weathers extreme Temperatures, in Stroudsburg ,Pennsylvania, at his age but continues to care of the symbol of motherhood in the Hindu mythology! To help those who can give us some gain is normal but to help those who are old and take care of them, love them and nurture them is divine. I am so honored to have been introduced to Shankarji. May god bless you Shankarji 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Alka Aneja

The Heroes Everywhere team would like to pay a tribute to one of our treasured Heroes.

In memory of our Hero Shri Dharma Veer Gandhi, who passed away peacefully at the age of 96 on Dec 2nd, 2020.

(Below are the words from his loving granddaughter, Aditi Kapoor)

Remembering his extraordinary life that was full of joy and happiness. He was humble and a loving man who will always be remembered by those who loved him.

His achievements are many from his wonderful journalism journey as a reporter in Hindi Daily in 1948 to writing and broadcasting over 2000 commentaries for All India Radio. They became so popular, that they were considered a "must" for listeners. After his stint with All India Radio, he founded multilingual News Agency called Samachar Bharti and ran the agency for two decades. During this period, he travelled with several Presidents and Prime Ministers of the Indian government, including Morarji Desai, President V V Giri and Dr. Zakir Hussain to cover state visits to foreign countries. After this colourful period, he started a publishing company in 1986 and wrote and published several books on current affairs.

My grandfather achieved a huge amount in his life and his vast experiences and his kind heart made him a very special person in my life and to his loved ones.

Aditi Kapoor

Janice Lathen is the Founder and the Director of Powering Potential, a non-profit organization focused on enhancing students’ learning experience by delivering solar-powered computers to remote villages in Tanzania and Peru. Janice was inspired to start Powering Potential in 2006 while on a safari in Africa. The group visited a school in the Karatu District of Tanzania and after introducing herself in Swahili, Janice was overwhelmed by the students’ expression of appreciation and the heartfelt connection she experienced. In the 15 years that Powering Potential has existed, the organization has completed 90 projects to help bring education to students in rural locations through the power of technology. Since these rural areas tend to lack resources, we have to be tactical about our work. We use solar-powered, Raspberry Pi computers and digital educational materials that require no internet. This allows students to access free educational tools without being connected to the electric grid. Powering Potential is a grass-root initiative has changed the lives of thousands of children and has provided them a brighter future. I am nominating Janice as a Hero for the tremendous work she has done through Powering Potential which has made such a large impact in the areas that require education the most. Janice has a deep passion to connect students to the resources they require and is already thinking about what other countries we can bring Powering Potential’s great services to. If you’re looking to find out more information about this incredible organization Janice started, check out www.poweringpotential.org

Janisa Anandmohan

A lot of people know about Time to Tea as a fast growing startup but no one knows who brought in so much of strength and support to transform many lives. Brajendra is the Man behind Time to Tea India and Switzerland ,who gave wings to 2 siblings and pushed them enough to pursue their dream and keep their dream going irrespective of all ups and downs in the last 5 years. He's a corporate professional with no big network other than people within the walls of his workplace and still continues to stand strong to support co-founders of the brand to not look back. Not everyone can do this especially when monetary support is highly involved. This man is a live example of a wonderful husband who knows no difference between men and women and works hard everyday so his wife never stops and family is always tied up together nicely as a team. Let's celebrate the unsung support he provides and thank him for being a kind human being

Ravindra

M.V.Shanker, my dad was born during the British rule in India when it was very rare for people to make it big in their lives. He was born in 1912, in a small town called Nagapatinam in coastal Tamil nadu state. He was the 3rd child to Pandit Viswanatha sastrigal and Neelambal and the family lived in poverty. He got adopted by Muthusamy Iyer who was his uncle and a retired Deputy collector.

He was the first member in the family to go beyond school in studies and managed to complete his bachelor’s degree. He got a job in Railways and because of his steely determination grew in ranks steadily and reached a coveted position. He took whatever responsibility was given to him and delivered. He never went in search of abundance because by his thoughts he could make abundance flow into his life, this attitude led to him identify microwave as a necessity for railways.

He had a habit of being around with incredible people and perhaps the people whom he befriended were equally happy to be his friend. He had to face several challenges, but amidst all these he stood firm and clear on achieving great heights in his professional career. He was also a "people" person and hence, everyone in the office, from his assistant to boss liked him equally.

Shankar was a very compassionate and generous person, he asserted that no matter how much he had, he felt poor if he did not remain grateful, and he always shared his wealth. The feeling of giving made him live like he had more than what he required.

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The Everyday Hero I am nominating is Kimberly Barnes, founder of Might Be Vegan and creator of the national hunger-relief effort “Food Love by Might Be Vegan.” Kimberly created Food Love earlier this year as a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a host of adverse effects on communities everywhere, especially Black and Brown people who are more likely to live in poverty and be food insecure. Acting quickly, Kimberly decided to respond by serving people how she knows best: with nutritious food.

Food Love approaches the issues of food insecurity through the lens of racial justice and from a health standpoint—two facets of the issue often overlooked. This program focuses on the people most in need, by not simply feeding them but ensuring that the food they receive is healthy and nutritious. Kimberly built Food Love with the understanding that access to a sufficient amount of healthy food is certainly one of the most important things that every person needs and deserves.

As a Black woman, Kimberly has taken a valuable leadership role during this pandemic. She has already positively impacted so many Black and Brown families when they needed it most.

Since its inception, Food Love has served individuals in need across all 48 contiguous states and Washington, DC, reaching as far west as California and as far north as New York. In addition to acting as a beacon of light to those in need of assistance, Kimberly has inspired many others to join her in her work. Food Love is supported by a team of volunteers who have drawn inspiration from the mission of Food Love as well as Kimberly’s hard work and dedication.

The program is still fairly new and growing quickly, with more partnerships and support every week. As Kimberly continues to dedicate herself to this work, she will have a crucial impact on even more individuals in need.

Kaylie

Shyamala Mohan is the founder and director of the Sri Sakthi academy, a school for special children. Shyamala never saw them as children with disabilities but always saw the rare abilities in them and various possibilities for them to grow and manage themselves independently.

She is a truly an amazing Mother to her special child, teacher and principal to the hundreds of children she has not taught. She sees them as her own children, all this she does with a smile in her face at all times.

The realities was heart breaking, yet she put up a brave face for her daughter and every challenge she faced only made her stronger to make her daughter to succeed. Her life has given her a new meaning and for those who have known her she is an inspiration. Her resolve for making these challenged children to live an independent life is quite amazing, her daughter is the best example for all parents of such children. Her daughter Durgah is an artist, holds a diploma in computer education and is also a trainee teacher in the school where she motivates many challenged children to learn and develop.

She embarked on a Mission to create a community of mothers with children needing special attention and from that was born the Sri Sakthi academy, the community which had just 4 mother’s with their children grew in stature to house nearly 100 children in any given year, the school has grown from just primary education to the secondary and got extended to diploma courses as none of these children nor parents wanted to leave this school. Many children have completed schooling along with learning life skills and are now in jobs.

She equipped herself with treating these children during their difficult times, learnt many different healing techniques to keep these children calm and at the same time got her trained in multiple disciplines to identify and harness every individual child’s varied talent.

These children whom she thinks are god’s own children are the source of her strength and she never stops surprising parents and the society in the bringing out talents of such wonderful children.

She has in a way sacrificed her life happily for these children!

Sharad

Rukmini, who I call Ruku, has been my dear friend for about 28 years. She is a tremendous person, and in recent years, I have been moved by her unconditional generosity and compassion towards street dogs of Kolkata, India.

There hasn’t been a single day that I know of, where Ruku doesn’t make her “daily rounds” around her neighborhood, feeding the stray dogs, making sure they’re vaccinated if need be, and have a home where possible. She herself adopted five street dogs that she shelters at home.

All this is done with simply immense love for animals. She has engaged her family in caring the same way she does, and she tries to spread awareness even in toughest of times, such as the cyclone that hit Kolkata. She made it a point to step out when possible and feed the most severely impacted beings- these street dogs. I am proud to call her a friend, and I believe there should be a platform of support for her, as she has been doing all the work on her own merit, without much extra assistance, which is extremely tough.

Naiya Khushalani

(Context: During the 1971 war between India and Pakistan. This is part of the citation of the Veer Chakra Medal awarded by the Indian Government).

Captain Ashok Karkare of the Regiment Artillery was the forward observation officer with a company of a Rajput Regiment during their attack on Khalra in the Western Sector (India). The enemy immediately brought down intense artillery fire inflicting heavy casualties on our troops. Capt. Karkare secured a captured enemy artillary radio set and through it misguided the enemy, thereby diverting enemy artillery fire and saving casualties to our troops. On the morning of 8 December, the enemy launched determined counter-attacks with infantry supported armour. Undeterred by the heavy shelling and small arms fire, Captain Karkare directed own artillery in an accurate manner and was instrumental in repulsing attacks. He continued to engage the enemy till our troops had extricated themselves from the position. While he was himself withdrawing, he was hit by a machine gun burst and killed on the spot. Throughout, Captain Karkare displayed gallantry, leadership and devotion to duty of a high order.

Sanjay Gokhale

Mrs. Rita Jain- distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength is surely an unsung hero according to me. From recycling waste to create brand new items, from making each student of her learn toughest concepts so easily, She definetely deserves a reward. Reward is not always monetary, but it is the love and respect that you give to someone. I am 23 as of today, each day i am blessed with her positive vibes around. Her teachings , learnings, creativity, ideas, concepts, and her personality keeps us inspiring every minute. Her story is like a roller coaster ride. With many ups, she has seen downs too. But her bravery and kind heartedness made her overcome these. She is my first mentor, first teacher, first hero, and first guide. I love her.

Rakshit Jain

Our Hero: Arun Chachu

Arun Chachu is our uncle, our dad’s younger brother, who is known to his peers as Ramnarayan or Ram. He is an ornithologist, an environmentalist, and an ecologist. An ecologist is a person who studies that studies living things in relation to each other and their surroundings. An ornithologist is a person who studies birds and is an expert on birds- their ecology, features, sightings and sounds. He lives in Sarmoli village, at an altitude of 2200 meters (7200 feet) in Munsiyari, Uttarakhand, situated in the Himalayan valley in India and has worked and lived there in harmony with the surroundings for the past 25 years. He has worked with a number of village communities to protect and govern village forests. He teaches students and visitors, who are interested in sustainable living and learning, about the local forests and its wildlife. He has helped create homestays, a library for the local children and trained people in the community, their children and any visitors in nature guiding, bird sightings and bird sound recordings. He has helped organize community run and nature festivals since 2007 including an annual bird festival since 2014 in Munsiyari and helped create a checklist and information book on the Birds of Munsiyari.

Chachu has been studying birds in the Himalayan region, documenting them, recording their sounds and pictures entering them on ebird.org and inaturalist.org. He has coauthored papers with visiting researchers from US and other countries and has traveled and hiked extensively in the Himalaya including parts of Tibet, Nepal and Indian states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Because of people like him, we can tell more about the changing environment and the migration patterns of different birds. He goes bird-watching every day to look for birds and document their behavior. But he doesn’t only look for birds, he sees other plants or animals - lichens, insects, butterflies, snails, monkeys, flying squirrels and leopards, too.

Ram Chachu is always excited about learning, exploring and enjoys spending time with his family and all the animals at home and in forests. He is kind to everyone around and is patient. I guess the animals recognize his kindness and approach him with ease.

Ram Chachu designed and helped build his own home in Munsiyari. He constantly problem-solves to prevent flooding of homes in the mountain side villages especially during the monsoon season. Last year in spite of his efforts the lower floor of his home was flooded as did many other homes in the region. His house is eco-friendly and has many windows to enable viewing the beautiful Panchachuli ranges (The five peaks). He cooks a vegetarian meal everyday- often using organic vegetables that are either grown on his plot or nearby farms. He regularly goes for long hikes and often runs up the steep hills. He gets water from the nearby cold-water stream.

Chachu often helps the village with many projects related to education, forestry, improvements in farming through greenhouses, and innovating and deploying energy saving and low smoke wood stoves. He is part of programs that help provide computer education and other life skills to members of the rural community, creating rope bridges so that people can cross the river safely for work or school. He had led an adventurous and hard life with many interesting tales. Whenever Chachu visits, we view an informative and beautiful slide show of his travels and sightings and listen to his interesting stories for hours.

Maya (age 8) and Rohan Krishnan (age 12)

I had the pleasure of getting to know the Mens Sierra Leone rugby team over the course of 4.5 years. In the midst of physical battle, when fatigue and self-doubt strips away all inhibitions; there is nowhere to hide but to face your fear head-on. As their trainer, I got to witness their mental and moral qualities first hand. I watched their personalities grow. I watched them overcome adversities of monumental proportions - both on and off the pitch.

We used to train on the beaches of Sierra Leone, without shoes and shirts. Lot of the boys couldn't afford to rip the shirts they came to training with. They only had a handful of possessions. In a country ravaged with 10yr brutal civil war, these young men grew up in a crying country and broken systems, most in devastated families.

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Rohit Wadhwani

Farial is a young girl in Toronto, who, in 2017, started an initiative called Humanitarian Hearts (link to organization)

Initially, Farial and her Humanitarian Hearts Family spent weekends delivering care packs to the Homeless. Over the past few years, they have also delivered meals to senior citizens across the GTA. Since the Covid Pandemic began, she has gathered fresh and non-perishable grocery items to deliver to families across the GTA, who are in need. She would announce on her Facebook page (at the beginning of the week) which items were needed for the individual families, and then collect food and monetary donations from those in her network who wished to donate. Farial then distributes the groceries and sometimes gives the families gift cards if there is a monetary donation so the families can purchase what they need on their own (to give them some feeling of autonomy). All the while, unbeknownst to most, Farial’s own mother, who has been ill and in hospital for nearly ten months, took a turn for the worse during the pandemic. So Farial was dealing with the emotional upheaval at home and still continues to volunteer her time, as she knows that there are families who are counting on her.

Shemin Jiwani

In 1987, when Toni Rüttimann was just 19 and about to finish high school, there was a devastating earthquake in Ecuador. The images of destruction on TV made Toni want to help, and directly after finishing high school he left Switzerland and traveled to Ecuador. He had no local contacts or any plan for what he was actually going to do there. This became the start of something great, when Toni happened to meet a Dutch hydraulics engineer. Together with one village they built a bridge, a bridge that in Toni’s own words was terrible and nothing like he would build today. And yet this bridge still helped the people by connecting them to services that had become unavailable after the earthquake.

Toni then returned to Switzerland to study civil engineering so that he could better help people. But after seven weeks he quit. He felt that if he spent five years studying, he would get so used to the comfortable Western lifestyle that he wouldn’t be able to do what he did in Ecuador – that is, helping people while living on bare minimum. So he went back to Ecuador and over the next ten years he built 100 bridges there, together with an Ecuadorian welder named Walter, who became his partner and right-hand man.

While in Cambodia, Toni became paralyzed for two years from the neck down due to Guillain-Barré Syndrome. He had no insurance, but the locals took care of him like one of their own. Even during his paralysis he kept working, and using a pencil in his mouth he developed a computer database and worksheets that made designing new bridges more efficient.

Toni has since travelled across South America, and Southeast Asia and built over 760 bridges, and helped more than two million people.

One thing Toni said which I will always remember is "get rid of your excuses".

Toni is the simplest person you will ever meet, but he is one of kindest.

His story shows us all the power each individual has in changing the world.

Anteia Win

My aunt, Dr. Yougindra Khushalani is my Hero. She was the first in the family to leave the country to study in the US and then went on to work for the Human Right Commission in Switzerland.

When in the US, she lived off meager earnings to survive, with little help. So much so, she could not afford a typewriter (in the 70s) to finish up her Ph.D. thesis. She hand wrote all 1,000 pages of her thesis!

At the UN, she focussed on women's rights, and boldly wrote a book titled "The Dignity and Honour of Women as Basic Fundamental Human Rights". A few scanned pages of the book are available here. (Thanks to my uncle, Manohar Khushalani's efforts).

Among the many groups of women she championed, one group was women prisoners from all over the world. She received so many letters from unjustly imprisoned and tortured women, pleading for justice. As a young girl, I got to read them, after her possessions and her remains were sent back to India, following her untimely death at a young age and the peak of her capacity to serve, in Geneva. Till today i remember the typed letters detailing the brutality they faced.

My aunt is my HERO! She fought for people who had been silenced. She inspired in me the drive for social impact, justice and change.

Sonia Karkare

Everyone tries to see her or his adventurous dreams through the lives of various superhumans who perform the acts of achievements one could not do, but dream of all along their lifetime .

My real heroes are those who gave their life for their countries fighting the battles selflessly and perhaps fully knowing the dangers to their own lives .

It is difficult to understand the spirit of a soldier in the war who is someone so dear to so many socially and connected to the dearest family. And yet he/she is ready to die for a cause that may be right or wrong .

The other breed of heroes are the Astronauts .After watching the live telecast of First Man on The Moon , I am totally fascinated with every Astronaut that is sent to the space . They all are my heroes as I just worship them like God as they go furthest away from Earth and so, closest to My God . They are superheroes for me.

Capt. Arun Karkare