2017 Apr 26
Gudppl ( pronounced “good people”) is Sri Lanka’s newest social enterprise focused on community service and social welfare.
Founded in 2016, the main objective of this venture is to create a central database of volunteers and deserving causes, where volunteers can browse through available causes and pledge towards those they find most suitable.
If you are passionate about lending a helping hand and you don’t know where to start, simply visit www.gudppl.com and create an account. This account connects you to their social network, and gives you access to a wide variety of volunteering opportunities, be it one-time endeavours or long-term commitments. Regardless of your age, interests, skill-set and time discrepancies, Gudppl has something for everyone, and is sure to find you a cause that suits you.
“There is a significant problem of a ‘brain-drain’ in Sri Lanka where Sri Lankans who go abroad for higher education often don’t come back, and those who come back find it difficult to reintegrate back into the Sri Lankan society. [In addition] there is a lack of publicity and recognition for volunteerism in Sri Lanka, making it difficult for those interested to find engaging and worthy causes to support. Gudppl gives them the opportunity to perform community service activities and also integrate with the Sri Lankan society.”
When asked about how the organization came into being, the Founder and CEO of Gudppl, Mr. Harinda Fonseka stated this, adding that it was not one significant event that led to the idea to create Gudppl, but rather a lifetime of experience and observations.
From ancient times, Sri Lankans have been admired all across the world for their charitability and benevolence. Astounded by the generosity and munificence displayed by our islanders, travelers in the olden days even wrote books and poems in appreciation. This benevolence carried forth through generations and generations has carried Sri Lanka all the way up to the 5th place on the World Giving Index (WGI) of 2016, published by the Charities Aid Foundation. Whilst Sri Lanka has consistently performed well and remained in the WGI Top Ten list in the past decade, it is Mr. Fonseka’s belief that the organizing power of volunteerism, and the publicity and attention geared towards volunteering are rather lacking in our country. With this in mind, Gudppl was created as a means to strengthen the sphere of volunteerism in Sri Lanka and herd more public attention towards volunteering.
Since its inception, Gudppl has been diligently conducting social service activities such as painting the Children’s Ward of the Maharagama Cancer Hospital, connecting donors with orphanages in need of furniture, and even organized a yoga session in an elders’ home.
Gudppl has been steadily progressing and expanding since its inception in November 2016. The Gudppl mobile app was launched days ago, on the 21st of April, and the organization aims to go global in the near future, thus expanding its database of causes and volunteers.
This social network has many upcoming worthy causes and events that you could get involved in, the most notable being a clean-up of the Adam’s Peak, scheduled for the 6th of May. Gudppl is also in search of volunteers for other projects such as beach clean-ups, tele-counseling, and organizing a Sinhala and Tamil New Year celebration for the visually disabled. Details of all ventures will be available on their official website, www.gudppl.com.
The website’s “Deed Feed” feature allows you to share your benevolent achievements on your profile. This feature was introduced in hopes that it would spark a chain reaction and inspire friends and colleagues to get involved and do good deeds too.
As Mr. Fonseka rightly said, “Sri Lankans should stop putting the blame on others, and instead roll up their sleeves and get to work.”
GUDPPL gives you the opportunity to be a ‘GUD’ person by doing ‘GUD’ deeds, thus creating a society of ‘GUD PPL’ – GUDness comes full circle!
This is your chance to make a difference in the world.
Why waste any more time? The world needs you.
Visit www.gudppl.com and change the world, one cause at a time.
Like the Gudppl Facebook page to stay up-to-date with their ventures and expansion.
If you have any queries, contact the Gudppl team via ask@gudppl.com.
