The 'From The Heart' feature series takes an in-depth look at St. Bonaventure student-athletes and coaches. Named for the beloved Merton's Heart that overlooks campus, this series will tell the stories of Bonnies athletic programs on and off the field. Click here for previous installments in the series. 

Last summer, Bonnies sophomore tennis player Arjun Pindiprolu helped raise over $15,000 for kids to participate in the Ride for Roswell. However, the origin story of Pindiprolu co-founding Wheels of Hope is a fascinating one.

"Dr. Kumar, who is a family friend, is also a member of the Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports board," Pindiprolu said. "He told me I have a project that I think you would like to work on. Then I met Norm Page, who started GBAS, and it just went from there."

Pindiprolu, co-founder of Wheels of Hope, just wanted to see kids who were handicapped smile and have an opportunity to participate in activities.

"Honestly our goal was just to see the kids smile," said Pindiprolu. "It's tough for them to do normal things. We can just join sports we are interested in whenever we want. [The kids] don't really have that and they have to rely on each other to create leagues."

Wheels of Hope bought three $5,000 bicycles for kids to ride on during Ride for Roswell. Thus giving kids the opportunity to learn how to ride a bike for the first time.

"[For the kids] it was their first time learning how to ride a bike," Pindiprolu said. "They learned it in a day, which was just incredible. Seeing those who were missing limbs use a hand-cycle was quite amazing to see."

Throughout raising $15,000, Pindiprolu acknowledged that local communities, including St. Bonaventure, played a massive role in the funding.

"When we started raising money, we texted out links to GoFundMe to everyone we knew," Pindiprolu said. "The Gingerich family was very generous with their donation, along with a lot of my friends from Bonaventure. We also went around in Buffalo, and a lot of people helped contribute."

With the raising of $15,000, Wheels of Hope met their short-term goal.

"Our original goal was to fundraise for three bikes, so we did reach it," Pindiprolu said. "The kids got the bikes, they were able to participate in the Ride for Roswell, so we made it."

As for Pindiprolu himself, co-founding Wheels for Hope has taught him an immeasurable amount.

"Wheels of Hope has taught me a ton," Pindiprolu said. "It's shown me how friendly people can be and how helpful you can be when be when people are in times of need. It's also shown me a perspective. These kids weren't given the same opportunities as us, so having the ability to help them and be friends with them is one of the best experiences."

Going forward, Wheels of Hope intends to be more versatile.

"Our next goal is probably getting more involved," Pindiprolu said. "Whether that's helping out with wheelchair tennis or lacrosse, we just want these kids to get involved more in sports."