July Highlights
- Foundation of Goodness' ongoing programmes have benefited 3,937 beneficiaries via 30 productive empowerment sectors covering 100+ villages free of cost from the South, North and East during this month at the cost of Rs. 10,549,865.13 (USD 77,034.04)
- Kushil is now on Twitter! Follow him on @KushilFOG for inspirational and value based insightful daily quotes.
- The Foundation was honoured to be recognized as the Best Volunteer Sports Organization at the Silk Awards Ceremony 2015.
- The deed for the land where FoG's North Learning & Empowerment Institute will be established has been signed by H.E. the President subsequent to the cabinet sub-committee approval, which means we can now make the plans to set up a holistic centre for Learning and Empowerment in the North.
- The FoG dance troupe, 'Sama Goodness Rhythm' are currently on tour in France representing traditional Sri Lankan dance styles at the Festival De Montoire which is a collection of 9 mini-festivals held across a number of French cities including Paris, Lyon and Orleans.
- The first batch of students to attend courses at FoG in 2015 graduated this month, with The Women’s Enterprise and Empowerment Centre graduating 196 students (37 students from the Beauty Culture course, 33 from Bakery, 24 from Cookery, 17 from Dressmaking, 8 from Patchwork, 22 from Curtain Making, 3 from Beeralu Lace Weaving, 26 from Saari Work and 26 from Screen Printing) and the other courses graduating 296 students as follows; Computer (156 graduates), English (33), Tamil (23), Electrical Maintenance and Home Wiring (13), Photography (10), Compering (18) and Diving (16).
- We had many visitors of repute this month who want to partner initiatives for greater humane productivity which we are always happy to welcome and deliver.
- Sonali Ranaweera, the outstanding teenager from USA, who sponsors bi-weekly oral care programmes in Seenigama via her charity Recycling4Smiles visited the MCC Centre of Excellence with her mother Jeewika and brother Mano, and the family participated in one of the dental programmes.
- Cataract surgeries have been carried out for multiple batches of beneficiaries from the South with impaired sight with the help of the Sri Lanka Association in Geneva, and now we have also expanded these surgeries to the East where 10 beneficiaries successfully had their sight restored bringing the total number of beneficiaries so far to 48.
- Mr. Rob Setchell headed a group of 24 students from Richard Huish College for a community aid programme to the Foundation of Goodness for the second time. The students spent two enjoyable weeks working with the various FoG sectors which included the English classes and visits to a boys’ orphanage. The group donated 11 notebook computers and made a variety of other donations which would help uplift the lives of rural village children and youth prior to their departure.
- Subway celebrated their one year anniversary in Sri Lanka and 50th anniversary worldwide by gifting 50 meals towards a special project for the community. The meals were accepted on behalf of FoG by legendary cricketer/ FoG Trustee Muthiah Muralidaran and immediately gifted to the Navodaya Special Needs Children’s Home as a delicious and healthy lunch for the kids.
- FoG’s second Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Project was completed in Alapathgama, and handed over to the 130+ families who did not have access to clean water previously, due to chemical contamination to the water supply attributed to the misuse of pesticides.
- 30 boxes of books were granted by ‘Help a Child, Donate a Book’ as facilitated by Mr. Albert Teo, and distributed amongst children, schools and libraries all across the island including the North, East, South and Central regions of Sri Lanka.
- A workshop on beauty & women's health was conducted by Dr. Champa Nelson and her team while Sri Lanka Unites organized a forum theatre programme to build awareness about street harassment and peer pressure to benefit the local communities.
- A special dessert making demonstration for the the Women’s Enterprise and Empowerment cookery class students was conducted by Kushil's sisters Priyadharshini and Damayanthi who shared their recipes and methods to help improve the students' knowledge base.
- Special medical donations were made to the FoG Medical Centre and Pharmacy by Dr. Sarath & Mrs. Rashantha De Alwis and Mr. Rohan Hattotuwa. These medication are distributed free of charge as per the prescriptions from the medical clinic to improve impoverished villagers' quality of life.
- Lahiru pre-school celebrated English Day with a special concert where they performed songs, speeches and dances displaying their talents and English skills.
- Ongoing projects include Recycling4Smiles bi-weekly oral hygiene programme, the sponsorship towards the Navodaya Centre for Special Children by FoG Trustee Muthiah Muralidaran and the Community Psycho-social Unit’s visits to Elders’ Homes to ensure their good health. Such projects provide ongoing care to ensure the continued well-being of a wide cross section of beneficiaries.
- Multiple beneficiary community aid projects were also carried out this month, including the Sports Academy providing an electrical connection for a needy family, weekly beach cleanups by the Diving & Training Centre students and a cleaning campaign at the Wellawatta Elders’ Home by the Community Psycho-social Unit in addition to taking the elders to the temple and the beach.
- FoG triathlete Lakruwan Wijesiri placed 2nd in the Sprint Distance category at the Singapore International Triathlon and while we share in his joy, we wish to express our most sincere thanks to Sri Lankan Airlines for sponsoring his travel and Mr. Chandramohan for sponsoring his training.
- Kevin Pietersen's KP24 Foundation visited the Seenigama Sports Acadamy and conducted a special coaching session to help the rural youth take their game to the next level.
- Mr. David Cruse and Mr. Keith Thompson organized a cricket tour in Sri Lanka for the Australian Hellenic Federation, and one of their most significant matches was playing the North Combined Schools Cricket Team in Mankulam (Northern Sri Lanka), following which they gifted bicycles to each of the players from the North Combined Team. The group also played a friendly match against the Seenigama Sports Academy Team.
- The FoG Sports Academy teams played their annual cricket match against MCA Academy and this year, both the U13 and U15 teams were winners, bringing home the ‘Rural Goodness Trophy’ and the “Ratnayake Memorial Trophy’ respectively, while the U13 Captain was named the best batsman and man of the match and the U15 captain was named the best bowler.
- We would like to make a special mention of the David Talalla Academy group of 25, who spent over two weeks with the Sports Academy and truly exemplified the meaning of community aid sports tours as they beautifully balanced playing cricket and volunteering, working with multiple FoG sectors including visiting the boys’ orphanage and making many useful donations prior to their departure.
- Community aid sports tours this month included friendly games with CIMA Canada, Heidelberg Volkskool- Germany, Dalyellup College- Australia, St. Albans College- UK, Australian Hellenic Federation, Monkton Combe- UK, Royal Grammar High Whycombe- UK, PSCC Maritzburg College- South Africa, Puntfest Cricket Academy- South Africa, David Talalla Academy- Australia and the Adams Grammar Girls School netball team from UK.
- Mr. Hemantha Devapriya conducted his monthly coaching camp for 81 cricketers while Jonathan Wright carried out special training for the 23 members of the Sports Elite Squads, all aimed at improving their performance.
- To learn about FoG’s recent visit to the North, please visit 'North Journey So Far'. Click Here.
- From among our 30 empowerment activity sectors we have had 5 special success stories this month, one of whom is Menaka. Please read her story below.
- The Foundation of Goodness is delighted to have 43 volunteers with us this month from USA, Canada, France, Australia and UK, all of whom are adding value to our work.
- 103 Village Welfare projects amounting to Rs. 1,152,592.18 (USD 8,660/-) divided among areas such as healthcare, scholarships, electricity, water and general welfare were facilitated this month to uplift the living standards of rural villagers to ease their burden in addition to the ongoing campus style of operation in place.
TOTAL BENEFICIARIES
15+ years in the South : 250,000+
4+ years in the North and East: 21,800+
Major Upcoming Events:
- 50 scholarships to be awarded to children of the Koslanda landslide victims.
- Construction of new Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Plant in Mihintale (Anuradhapura District) to benefit villagers affected by Chronic Kidney Disease.
- The PMTT TukTuk Charity Ride is to take place in September 2015.
- Murali Harmony Cup, 2015, the 4th edition to take place in October.
- British Sri Lanka Association (BriSLA) Fundraiser in UK to take place in November.
- Bayside Community Outreach fundraiser in Sydney, Australia to take place in November.
- FoG’s 4th Village Heartbeat Project, 2015 is under review to be introduced in Kankasanthurai, Jaffna District.
- Tesco Charity Aid Walk to take place in February 2016.
|
