Ramen Murugadoss (center) and Ehssan Kanamkandy (center-left), organizers of the Stronger Together Powerlifting Meet Fundraiser benefiting Hamilton Families
Hamilton Families on Medium.com • August 8, 2021 • By Cory Winter
Wherever we look to lift up our community, having a safe place to call home is a crucial part of the solution. I met two high school students in Pleasanton, CA who — after taking that sentiment to heart — started a powerlifting fundraiser to end family homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area. Here’s my interview with these up-and-coming community leaders who seem determined to make as positive of an impact on their community as they have on the families experiencing homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Can we start with your names, how old you are, and where you go to school?
Ramen: My name is Ramen Murugadoss, I’m 17 years old and I go to school in Foothill High School in Pleasanton and I’m going to be a senior in just a couple weeks.
Ehssan: My name is Ehssan Kanamkandy, I’m also 17 years old and I also go to school in Foothill High School in Pleasanton.
Still in high school and already making your impact on the world. I’m impressed! And your fundraiser was such a unique idea! Did you all think you would be able to raise so much? When I checked last, you had raised over $2800!
Ramen: I mean I had hopes that we would raise as much money as possible because when I first came up with this idea, people were really supporting us — and obviously our parents and our families are always supporting us — so out of that we could raise a substantial amount of money to help this great cause. I’m really happy with how much we could raise.
Ehssan: I think the number we came up with at the beginning was $2,000 and we did get more than that!
You sure did! And what an idea, a powerlifting meet. Could you give me some background on the actual event? Was it a competition?
Ramen: It was! Nobody expects a powerlifting fundraising meet but I’m really into powerlifting. I’ve been into fitness since my freshman year so about three years and then I recently got into powerlifting. I wanted to compete in a powerlifting meet, myself, but when I was looking for one, I couldn’t find one for some odd reason, so I was like wait a minute, why not just make my own? Then, one of our friends — he’s graduated now — had a kind of a similar community event last year where he raised used clothes donations for the disadvantaged. I wanted to do something similar to give back to our community and help out in a good way. I feel like a powerlifting meet that I was hosting myself, it’s a great foundation to do that, for a good cause. So, we went off that idea and then looked at the problem that we wanted to raise funds and support. Then we came across Hamilton Families; we love what you guys are doing and because of the pandemic — obviously it didn’t help people experiencing homelessness, so we wanted to specifically aid to that problem. That’s how we started and then momentum rolled and now we’re here.
Ehssan: [Ramen] is the one into powerlifting, I’m just generally into fitness and I enjoy it but I’m not as into powerlifting as him. But we’re good friends so he told me about his idea, and I thought it was cool. He invited me to join him and help conduct it and sure enough, I was 100% down!
I’m curious, what was your motivation to support a cause like ending family homelessness and to donate your fundraiser proceeds to Hamilton Families? You described how the COVID-19 pandemic affected families you were connected to but why families who don’t have a home?
Ehssan: We wanted to make this as local as we could, so we were looking for charities and nonprofit organizations in the community. There’s no shortage of them and we narrowed it down to I think nine or ten websites, discussing back and forth and we really gravitated toward Hamilton Families.
Ramen: And then I realized that, for me, through this whole thing that I’ve been extremely blessed and lucky that I didn’t have to suffer the affects [of the pandemic] as much as many other people did. My parents could keep their jobs, I could keep getting food, but for many other people the pandemic just ruined everything. I think we felt like, in this circumstances, family homelessness would be a really good cause to support.
Do you have any sort of personal connection to anybody who is experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity?
Ramen: I’d say I have more of an empathetic connection; throughout my life, I’ve been a supporter of efforts to help those experiencing homelessness. I grew up in India and I remember so many people living on the streets; it’s insane the circumstances they were going through. I moved to the US in 2015 and we visited San Francisco; same story, so many homeless people who are just trying to survive. When I’m presented with any chance to help them, I take it; this opportunity just made it so that I could expand my support.
I’m sure you’ve looked at your fundraising page and scrolled through the comments that people have made when they donate. Do you recognize any of these names or do you recognize a lot of them?
Ramen: Yeah, our families and our friends love us they’re kind enough to support us, especially this initiative, and we’re super grateful. Some of the people who donated are people that we don’t know so it’s been great to see what kind of outside support we’ve been able to gather.
Your fundraiser was incredibly impactful, not just on the families we serve but also on your own community for helping spread the word about our work. You have such great work ethic and your empathy for families in-need is made so apparent by your efforts. What’s the future look like for each of you? What do you want to do with your lives?
Ramen: For me, I’m focusing on going to university. I’m planning on studying mechanical engineering hopefully at the University of California. I mean, to be honest, that’s where my career path is going, but what I want to do with my life… I just want to change people’s lives in a positive way; where my presence can influence them in a positive way. I hope that I could do that as the cornerstone of my life.
Ehssan: I’m not as set in what I want to do with my life; I’m still looking into a career path but, you know, there’s a lot of stuff out there. I’m also trying to go to college to study hopefully University of California. Like Ramen said, always trying to be a positive presence in people’s lives is a good thing but also helping people. The one thing that stood out to me throughout all this is Jeff [Hamilton Families Institutional Giving Manager], he gave a nice speech at the meet, and he was talking about the families you all help. So, when I was thinking about homelessness, I actually didn’t fully understand it until he was talking about what families go through, that it’s not the same as people experiencing homelessness that you see on the street; he was talking about kids living in motels and cars and places that you don’t see. It really resonated with me. I just want to make a positive impact on people’s lives.
You both have already made a positive impact on more people’s lives than you possibly could know. Thank you for taking the time to chat with me and I wish we could have a hundred more supporters just like you to help us not only raise funds but to become positive influences in their communities.
Ramen: And thank you to Hamilton Families and all the people on your side for giving us this opportunity. We hope we can help give families a home and we’re proud to support this really great cause; we’re grateful that we do have an opportunity to do so.
After meeting with Ramen and Ehssan, it becomes clearer to me that we need everyone to join in support of solutions for affordable housing and homelessness. For these two high schoolers, that meant starting a fundraiser and investing in the future of their community so that families today and the next generation can have a decent place to live. If two high school students can do this with a powerlifting meet, surely we could all follow their example.
Join Hamilton Families and our mission to end family homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area by starting a fundraiser of your own at hamiltonfamilies.org/fundraise.