Even as the second wave of COVID-19 landed a devastating blow on our healthcare services, citizen movements sprung up across the country to help those in need. Keeping humanity alive in the world, many considerate people came up for lending a hand to assist the ailing mankind.

Among the most compassionate and kind-hearted people who were willing to put themselves into the highly risked zone for providing a few moments of comfort to the COVID fighters was AG Anil Kumar who took a pledge to protect the frontline workers in this dire situation.

Believing in the motto of ‘Protecting the Protectors’, Anil Kumar left no stone unturned in working to safeguard the doctors, nurses, and sanitation workers at government hospitals in Ananthapuram, South India’s largest district in Andhra Pradesh.

After a lot of meticulous and strategic planning, Anil initiated his endeavour of ‘Heal Ananthapuram’ under which he distributed over 90,000 N-95 masks, 1.5 lakh surgical masks, 75,000 surgical gloves, 3 lakh surgical caps and 60,000 sanitizers procured from Malaysia and Korea. The needful was done for all the frontline and essential workers in the town ensuring that the ones dripping in sweat, making our lives easy, do not suffer at the hand of the scarcity of the necessities.

To the much surprise of the people, AG Anil Kumar, a 49-year-old, took up this chance all by himself. With the leverage to have been vaccinated, he realized it’s time for him to give back to society everything that it has done so far for him. Accompanied by his ever-enthusiastic driver and a youthful man Deva sharing the same zeal as Anil, the trio ventured out to reach the individuals, in the middle of the high-risk zones, the hospitals and procured them facilities needed for a minimum period of three days.

They ensured that the essentials were restocked after every seventy-two hours when the shifts used to change. Holding access to every ICU ward and Corona Testing laboratories in the district, Anil himself made sure that the individuals received the essentials required, on time.

Talking about what drives him out of bed every morning to help make a difference in society, Anil shares, “Some incidents recently led me to take in a daily wage labourer into my home who was not only a positive COVID patient but was also given up on by the doctors. Seeing her teenage kid relentlessly working to help his mother recover, I decided to help them in whatever way I could. It has just been a few days and the lady now walks around my garden, and every time we cross paths she smiles the most beautiful smile showing her gratitude. And at this point of my life, it is the most exhilarating feeling, to know that someone found a better way of living just because you decided to be kind. And, that is exactly what keeps me going every day.”

Working under AGS Reddi Organization, Anil Kumar brought forth a variety of digital campaigns to spread awareness about the COVID-19 precautions and measures to safeguard themselves. This was done under a Facebook campaign of ‘Discover Ananthapuram’ which shared the motto of ‘Hope Lives Here’, attempting to keep people upbeat when the circumstances moved to a slumber.

In the same line to make people conscious about the importance of the mask in the current situation, a mask was put on the clock tower of Ananthapuram. With such an act, a deep impact was made on the people of the town, encouraging them to wear a mask properly at all times, even if stepping out of the house for a few moments.

The humanitarian on a mission, AG Anil Kumar manifests that the ones who are already doing everything to protect the world also need some kind of assistance and protection. Therefore, he emphasizes the fact that saving one nurse means saving at least fifty individuals and helping one doctor means helping hundreds of people to live better. With Anil’s continuous steps to bring relief to the situation, the future seems even better.