Medium Community| Supporting Fellow Writers

Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles — A Loving, Generous Soul With a Heart of Gold

Her story will move you to tears

Our lovely Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles is such a special soul. This kind and gentle lady is always here, offering more smiles than she could possibly collect, and supporting our community in various ways.

She lives in India and is not allowed to join the Medium Partner Program. This means she will never earn a single penny for the endless hours she spends here, writing beautiful, inspiring, heartfelt articles and sharing her lovely soul with us.

Think about that for a moment.

Day after day, she sees articles here about how much money others are earning, or how they can earn more, or articles by people who are complaining that they aren’t earning as much so they’re leaving, blah blah blah.

Yet she continues to show up week after week, month after month, writing, sharing, supporting, writing, sharing, supporting, always with love and with smiles, and never complaining that she doesn’t get the financial reward that many of us do.

Away from Medium, she does her best to support underprivileged children. A noble cause of course, but that’s not why she does it. And although many people have a general understanding of how important it is to support these kids, no one understands better than dear Vidya.

I cried through much of this deeply personal story that she has written (below). It left me in pieces for some time afterward.

And because she isn’t able to generate an income from Medium, she has set up a “buy me a coffee” account. She uses it to support these kids who have nothing.

Please…if you can…show your appreciation for all she offers our community. Help her to support these children and buy her a coffee or two. Be as generous as you’re able in your circumstances.

I can’t even tell you how deeply moved I was by her story.

Let it move you, too.

Thank you, Vidya, for all you do for us here on Medium, for your many loving comments, your support of this writing community, and for the compassion and kindness you show these beautiful children.

Would you buy Vidya a coffee or two, please?