We belong to a generation that follows an unsaid convention of first meeting people and then following it up with becoming friends on Facebook. No matter how much you know them, if that person is from your school, college or work space, that’s enough for you to become someone’s Facebook friends.
But what would you do if one such random Facebook friend who you faintly remember from college calls you and asks for help for a serious issue? Nishant has set the bar high.
Nishant was always the happiest engaged in social activities like visiting orphanages, aids homes spreading awareness or helping in whichever way that was possible for him.
On being asked about his inclination towards helping people. Nishant said, "I get it from my parents. Helping someone in need comes very naturally to me. I used to watch my father (a doctor) give free medical treatments all the time"
Nishant received a text on Facebook asking him for his contact number. "I didn't know who this guy was. I faintly remembered seeing him in college. So I replied with my number."
Mangcha's younger brother Roland called Nishant and said, "I don't know why but I have a feeling that you can help me and I don't know what else to do, I am absolutely helpless."
These precise words changed both lives, Nishant's and of course Mangcha's.
Roland's elder brother Mangcha was brutally run over by an SUV at an unmanned U turn. The driver fled. Mangcha was rushed to the hospital by an onlooker. It was concluded that his right leg was completely crushed, and action had to be taken immediately, that required not only emotional, but also financial support.
They belong to a small village in the Churchandpur district of Manipur (India). Their parents are old farmers with little to no income. The incident, needless to say, completely toppled the entire family's life, shaking them at their very foundations.
We come across situations that we feel bad about but majority of us stop after that temporary sympathetic phase. Nishant decided to get past that!
"Not doing anything about it pricked my conscience. Roland called me again and put the thought back in my head. He had exhausted all his resources. I just couldn't let him down. I decided to do something about it. I had no idea what I was going to do. I just knew I wanted to do something to help."
One of his ex-colleagues who works at Ketto, suggested that he should crowdfund for this cause.
Nishant admitted that he wasn't completely confident in crowdfunding and was slightly apprehensive of taking this approach initially. "But I decided to give it a shot anyway!"
So How Nishant went all out for Mangcha's fundraiser :
In our experience, Nishant tops the list of the most active fundraisers we've seen. He made use of features offered by a crowdfunding platform to the fullest!
"When I started out, I wanted to make people feel what I felt when I heard Mangcha's story. So I put a lot of thought into creating my campaign page on Ketto. I wanted to do justice to the story."
After creating his campaign page on Ketto, Nishant got in touch with almost everyone he had ever met in his life. "I shared Mangcha's campaign link with my school friends, my professors, my office colleagues, my Teach for India circle, magazines focusing on North East India, heads of North Eastern associations. I even contacted the Prince of Tripura and even Mark Zuckerberg! I even drafted Whatsapp forwards for people who showed interest, to share in their circles. I just decided to not leave a single stone unturned"
Now that's truly activating your personal network and using them to your benefit.
On his first day of the campaign, thanks to his active campaigning, he received a whopping amount of Rs. 1 lakh. "Apart from that because I spread the word of the campaign, I got a lot of support offline as well. Many people showed up at the hospital and donated directly."
Nishant even got in touch with Team Ketto so he knows what works best.
On guidance from the team, Nishant took to Twitter to get people to help. He tweeted to a lot of celebrities and managed to get a retweet from José Covaco. Nikhil Chinapa even tweeted about it after donating a huge amount for the cause.
Mangcha's medical expenses, raising INR 4,75,000, the exact cost of his treatment. Miraculously, Nishant saw a total collection of INR 6,05,501, raising over 1.25 lakh extra for Mangcha's welfare.
Nishant's experience:
On being asked about his experience on online crowdfunding, here's what Nishant had to say.
"We feel bad temporarily thinking we can't do anything for people who need help. With online crowdfunding, I've realized, if you have intent, you can! Even though it requires you to put in a lot of efforts,when you see someone's life changing, it's totally worth it.
I put in 7 hours every day to get Mangcha the funds he needs. I don't see why you shouldn't put in 60 hours of your life to bring such a huge difference to someone's life.
The high you get when the person you're campaigning for is out of worries is priceless. Nothing beats that!"
If this story inspires you, bring the causes you've been pushing to the back of your mind in the front and start a campaign. The only good time is now!
