Sood Charity Foundation’s Primary Goal Is To Help As Much As Possible – Sonu Sood

What were your objectives behind setting up the Sood Charity Foundation?

My sole purpose is to serve humanity to the best of my ability. There are so many people whose lives could change if we could offer them a little help. The inspiration for this foundation is my own conscience. If each one of us acts from our conscience, there will be no need for inspiration from any outside source. God resides within us. There is a saying that if you wish for something with all your heart the universe comes together to make it happen. That has been my story. Of course, my parents also have played a significant role in shaping my conscience.

Sonu, you are a busy cine star. As an actor, you are working together on many projects. What is your precedence for your foundation?

Before the pandemic hit us, I would do my bit for charity but when I stepped out to help people, the satisfaction it gave me made me realise that this was God’s real plan for me. I have found my calling. Though I continue with my work as an actor, my priority is and will always be serving people through my foundation.

Please talk about the main activities of the Sood Charity Foundation. How is Sood Charity Foundation dedicated to serving the people?

Walk with me in my journey and see how many smiles we can continue to spread!

Initially, we were helping people randomly. We tried helping people with whatever problems they came up with. We continue to take up causes that we believe in but now we majorly focus on healthcare and education. Of course, there are many other causes we support like disaster management in floods, climatic relief measures, etc. The list is too long to mention here. But I can humbly say we have done more in these 2 years than other NGOs take a lifetime to do. My goal is to try and find solutions for every problem that I have the capacity to resolve. And if I continue getting support from like- minded people, I can assure you, we will be able to do more phenomenal work.

What is the scope of the foundation? How can aggrieved persons from different states of the country reach out to your foundation?

It is healthcare and education as of now. People reach out to us in various ways possible. Through social media handles, emails and our website, through our volunteers and friends personally at my doorstep or shoots, etc. As a matter of fact, when a person needs help and he thinks Sonu can help him, he tries all possible means to reach out to us. I have a huge crowd outside my house every day to meet me for help. In my foundation, I have teams in place comprising volunteers from all across India who check all possible requests and after finding out if the case is genuine, we help out.

Whether there is any minimum fee charged from the patients for the treatment of various diseases or is this service completely free?

We never charge for any service. If you have seen any of my social media handles, you will see it is mentioned over there. There are a lot of people who falsely use my name and defraud innocent people for their money. The moment we catch someone we report these cases and I warn people to be aware of them through my social media handles. Our help is never deposited into anyone’s personal accounts. It is only directly transferred to the hospitals where the treatment is being done or to the education institutes.

For the work done in public interest by the Sood Charity Foundation, a large amount of
money is given by the foundation itself or any financial assistance is taken from other social institutions or corporate groups?

Initially, when I stepped out to help people, I used my funds. Even now I moved a good percentage of my earnings to the foundation. I ask a lot of my producers to donate to the charity in exchange for the work I do for them. When people saw the work I was doing, they came forward to help me. I believe when you step out to do good, everything falls into place. Yes, corporates, trusts, and individuals keep supporting us. Without their help it would be impossible to run such a massive philanthropic drive. Every single penny that anyone contributes goes towards helping someone in need.

Often questions may be raised that what is the basis of such a huge amount for the foundation and where does the fund come from? What would you like to say about this?

It is obvious that a single man cannot keep doing so much with his own funds alone. Like every other NGO, we have individuals, trusts, and companies who support us. Only after due diligence do they transfer funds. My name and my work have a certain standing that brings us visibility and that helps people in getting to know about my foundation and its causes.

Nowadays, children’s heart diseases are coming to the fore. What facilities are being provided for heart surgery of children by your foundation?

I get a lot of cases for paediatric heart surgery support. We are constantly helping the parents out financially through bills paid to the hospitals and I am also supported by a few trusts that help specifically for this cause.

Sood Charity Foundation has turned the impossible into possible. It has given new life to millions of people. From where does so much confidence and strong willpower come in you?

I always say that there is never any harm in trying. If an opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. I have always called people I do not know to help someone I do not know. And it has worked. When people see you are asking for help not for yourself and without any selfish gains, they believe the genuineness. I do not think twice before calling up someone to help a person in need. This is what my volunteers also follow now.

What facilities are available for the education and health of the children deprived of education? What kind of future do you see for capable children who are underprivileged?

We have undertaken various initiatives in education like free scholarships and free coaching for competitive exams. Students can visit our website and apply. The colleges and institutions who have come forward to support us form collaborative teams with my foundation members and together they filter genuine cases, and we give them a chance to pursue the education which they otherwise could not have afforded.

It is a mammoth task as the entries we receive for each are in lakhs, but I have a resolute team that works day in and day out to help as many as we can.

With great promptness and dedication during the Corona period, your foundation has safely transported lakhs of people to their homes. Your foundation has done the work which the authorities could not do. How challenging was this task for the team? Who helped the most in completing this task?

In those days I hardly slept. I was so consumed with finding solutions to achieve my goal of getting every individual and family home. It would be too lengthy to recount everything here. If you wish to know how it was done, maybe you could pick up my book ‘I Am No Messiah’. That book will give you a detailed account of how a single man’s effort turned into a massive operation. It’s a genuine account of how things were managed and achieved.

What are your expectations from the Maharashtra Government and the Centre for the expansion of the Sood Charity Foundation? How much support are you getting currently at the government level?

The government had been supportive in the sense that whatever permissions were required during the pandemic were given on my request. Other than that, there has been no specific support from the Maharashtra Government. Other states have come forward with proposals to support us which we are reviewing.

How much support are you getting from your wife and other family friends to run the work of the Sood Charity Foundation in a big way? To whom have you given the most important responsibility of managing various tasks of the Sood Charity Foundation?

My wife and my family have been my constant support without whom I could not have achieved as much. Even my relatives and friends have stepped in to help in whatever way they can. I am grateful for that. In my foundation I have a core team of accomplished individuals who help run the show with me. It is their emphatic view of social causes that drew them to me. They come with rich corporate experience and lead a team of volunteers spread across the globe. We are a very new foundation that came into existence after the first COVID wave. I am proud of what we have achieved in such a small period of time, and we hope to get stronger and be able to reach out to many more who need our help.

Who is the biggest influencer in your life from whom you always get positive energy?

The biggest inspiration in my life have been my parents and the lessons they taught me. Unfortunately, they are no more. But their blessings remain with me. This need for giving back to society comes from the compassion they taught me. My wife is my silent and constant pillar of strength. I derive my energy from them and from the collective forces of like-minded people.

What facilities are provided under Prof. Saroj Sood Foundation?

My mother was a professor in college. After working hours, the remaining time she would teach children free of cost. I now run scholarship programmes under her name as an acknowledgement of the work done by her.

How do you feel when patients recover and the smiles return on their faces with the efforts
of the Sood Charity Foundation?

It is the greatest feeling in the world. It is difficult to describe the feeling in words. You can only experience that feeling when you step out to help people and are able to do it for them. I urge everyone to help in whatever little way you can and you would yourself feel this joy and know it can’t be compared with any materialistic joy they would have experienced.

As the founder of the Sood Charity Foundation, what message do you want to give to the countrymen for Fit India?

Fitness has been a way of life for me. There are times when I do not find time to even catch a few hours of sleep. It is my general level of fitness that has sustained me during such times. If you want to live a fruitful healthy life and achieve your goals, fitness is not an option. It’s a responsibility to yourself.

You have received many excellent awards in your career and of course in the area of social service. Which is the most important award for you?

My biggest reward has been the love and respect that I get from the people whose lives I have been able to touch in a small way. The rest of the awards serve as additional motivation to go on with my work of serving humanity.

What message would you like to give to the people on behalf of the Sood Charity Foundation for the new year 2023?

The message I would like to give in 2023 is that if every person decides to help even one person each, half of the problems of this nation would be resolved. I had stepped into this philanthropic mission with the idea to get every citizen to join forces with me. To use my identity to inspire people to help the less fortunate. You could do it through your individual capacity or through my foundation.

The more you strengthen our arms the more we can spread those arms to reach out to the needy. Walk with me on my journey and see how many smiles we can continue to spread!

Could you highlight few of the tasks undertaken by you in 2022?

In the year 2022 we have helped more than 11 thousand patients with their individual medical treatments, more than 5 thousand students with education fees, we have collaborated with coaching institutes and are currently giving free coaching to 1500 IAS aspirants and to 500 law aspirants. We have also provided scholarships for postgraduate courses at various universities. A centre in Sholapur for English speaking to aid job seekers. Besides this we have supported various smaller campaigns like providing sweaters to school children, blankets to the deprived, knee replacement for senior citizens, etc. We often do such campaigns wherever we feel a real need exists. These may be too many to list here.

Overall, Sood Charity Foundation’s primary goal is to help as much as possible. With Sonu’s reputation, expectations from our foundation are high and we try to do our best. But the need is huge and never-ending.

If more people come forward to support our causes, we would be able to help more people. You can join forces with us in our mission by donating to the Sood  Charity Foundation through our website www.soodcharityfoundation.org.