Foundation of Goodness July Newsletter

The Foundation of Goodness has now completed it's 2017 Flood Aid activities and the final update is as follows;

The donation of 1,000 emergency meal packs (Galle District), 75 grocery packs (Kolonnawa- Colombo District) and 100 subway meals (Sedawatta- Colombo District).
Cleaning 48 wells in the Galle Region & 51 wells in the Matara Region.
Repainting classrooms at the Hiniduma School- Galle District.
The donation of 36 footwear vouchers to children who lost their possessions in the flood (Kolonnawa)- a special initiative by a young girl who requested donations towards this worthy cause in lieu of gifts for her 12^th birthday.
Repainting classrooms and furniture at 9 pre-schools and 1 school in the Galle and Matara Districts (Sponsored by Roshan Liyanage’s Facebook Fundraiser).
500 Essential School Supplies Packs donated to students in the Galle and Matara Districts (Sponsored by Roshan Liyanage’s Facebook Fundraiser).
950 Essential School Supplies Packs donated to students from Elpitiya -Galle District, Nupe- Matara District and Kolonnawa- Colombo District (Sponsored by the Federation of Sri Lankan Organisations of Queensland Inc. -FSOQ).
2 toilets were built at the Vijayananda Preschool- Thawalama in the Galle District (71 children) and one more toilet was built at the Singithi Preschool- Akurassa in the Galle District (24 children) (Sponsored by the Federation of Sri Lankan Organisations of Queensland Inc. -FSOQ).
220 Essential School Supplies Packs to children from Elpitiya- Galle District (Sponsored by Flood the Love Fundraiser- Upali's Melbourne).

We were delighted to welcome to Seenigama 28 students and 5 staff members from Harrow School who raised funds to build a library at the Foundation of Goodness' project headquarters- the MCC Centre of Excellence, prior to their Community Aid Tour to Seenigama. During their visit the students and staff personally got involved and helped build the library in addition to volunteering across a variety of our sectors including the pre-school and Sports Academy as well as enjoying a game of cricket with the FoG players and spending some time sightseeing in Galle.

21 students and 3 staff members from Richard Huish College joined us at the Foundation of Goodness over a 12 day period during which time they volunteered at a number of our sectors such as the pre-school and Sports Academy, conducted beach cleaning programmes and donated funds, sports equipment and 30 tablets/ notebook computers in an effort to uplift the lives of rural villagers. This is the third visit to the Foundation of Goodness by Richard Huish College.

The Northcote United Cricket Club led by Mr. David Talalla joined the Foundation of Goodness to visit the North during their tour of Sri Lanka. While previous groups who visited with Mr. Talalla have joined us at the Sports Academy in Seenigama (South), this is the first time that they have traveled to the North with us where they spent time at the FoG Mathagal Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centre & the Valvagam Home for the Visually Challenged and even managed to enjoy some cricket with the Jaffna Combined Cricket Team and play netball with the Jaffna St. Patrick's College ladies. The group also donated funds and a variety of items including sports equipment, groceries and books to uplift rural communities.

The Foundation of Goodness Academy Cricket Team participated in the Red Bull Campus Cricket Tournament and made it as far as the Quarter Finals before they were eliminated.

The MCC Cricket Scholarships for young up-and-coming players were handed over to 10 Under 19 cricketers for the 9^th consecutive year by none other than national cricketer Rangana Herath at the Foundation of Goodness head office in Colombo. All the players are from the National U19 Squad or members of the National Development Squad.

The annual Dixon Ashley Mendis Scholarship was awarded to two students from the Hikkaduwa Region who obtained the best O/Level Exam results and one deserving student who also received good results to encourage them to keep excelling in their education.

A total of 480 students graduated after successfully completing their courses at the Women’s Enterprise & Empowerment Centre (227 students from 64 villages), IT Centre (175 students from 59 villages), and the Business Skills & Language Training Centre (78 students from 40 villages) and we wish them all success and good fortune in their future endeavors.

The little ones from Lahiru pre-school enjoyed a seaside visit during which they stopped by a turtle hatchery to learn more about marine life and spent time at the beach including conducting a clean-up programme to build awareness about keeping our coastline clean.

Dance classes for children with special needs continue to take place at the MCC Centre of Excellence giving these children a fun opportunity to get involved with new activities and develop their aesthetic talents.

The Community Psychosocial Unit has conducted a variety of programmes this month to benefit the community, including special seminars at local schools and for students attending our classes to help them deal with exam stress. They also conducted a physiotherapy exercise programme at the Wellawatta Elders’ Home during their monthly visit to lift the spirits of the aging residents.

The Children's Goodness Clubs organised the 'Meth Sithuvili' (Good Thoughts) poster exhibition as an opportunity to showcase and spread their ideas about 'goodness' and how to be kind, helpful and act mindfully in daily life.

The FoG Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centres have all been busy and productive. The Gandara Centre(Matara) held special seminars for Grade 5 students, the kids at the Moneragala Centre went on a picnic in the mountainous Central Province of Sri Lanka, participated in a workshop conducted by a robotics engineer from USA and had a clean–up programme to keep their surroundings well maintained. The beneficiaries at the Mathagal Centre (Jaffna) attended a special awareness programme about safety and the kids from the Udumulla Centre (Galle) visited the Labuduwa Farm to learn about farming and animal husbandry, while the little ones at the Thirukkovil Centre (Ampara) learned how to make kites & paper masks and the kids at the Eravur Centre (Batticaloa) made toys out of recycled coconut shells.

The FoG Medical Centre held special clinics at the Hikkaduwa, Madampagama and Wellawatta Elders’ Homes to make sure that the residents remain in good health while the dental clinic continues to conduct monthly oral care programmes introduced by US teenager Sonali Ranaweera’s Recycling4Smiles initiative.

Beneficiary community aid projects this month include a cleaning programme at the Kalupe Temple conducted by the Udumulla Children’s Goodness Club and beach cleaning programmes conducted by the Diving Centre students.

Congratulations to FoG swimmer Yasindu Kavishani for her achievement of being placed 2^nd at the Sri Lanka National Age group Swimming Competition U19 Breast Stroke event. Kavishani also established a record in the 50m Freestyle event at the Southern Province Swimming Meet XLIII National Sports Festival 2017 where all 7 participants from FoG gave an outstanding performance, with swimmers Pranami, Sayuri and Kaveesha taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd place at the 100m freestyle event.

With the kind sponsorship of Tokyo Cement, 2 indoor cricket nets and 3 turf wickets at the Hikkaduwa Sri Sumangala MCC Lords Grounds and 2 indoor cricket nets at the Seenigama Surrey Oval were renovated, in an effort to promote and develop rural cricket.

Special training for the Sports Academy this month included the monthly coaching camp by Sri Lanka's National Women's Coach Hemantha Devapriya sponsored by Tokyo Cement for 36 cricketers and 8 coaches and daily fitness training conducted by Victor Celestine for all FoG sports squads to help improve their performance.

Community aid sports tours this month included visits by Trinity Grammar School- UK, Durham School- UK, Stamford High Girls’ School- UK, Lays Upper Boys’ School- UK, Bablake School- UK, Denstone Boys’ School- UK and Denston Girls’ School- UK, Gateway College- SL and the Sports Academy also organized a netball match between St. Albans Girls’ High School- UK and King Edwards High Girls’ School- UK in addition to which the two teams also conducted hockey and netball coaching programmes for our players. Lawrence Sheriff School from UK who also visited us conducted a beach cleaning programme to benefit the local community. These friendly matches are a valuable experience for the local and visiting teams because of the opportunity to play and learn from each other.

FoG donors have gifted various items to benefit under-served communities including the donation of bags, inflatable cushions and torches by Aviva- UK towards the Aviva Village in Seenigama and toys & caps by Julie Kent for the Anula Girls’ Home as well as a collection of items by visiting schools, donors and well-wishers including kitchen utensils, sports equipment, and dry rations to uplift and improve the lives of rural beneficiaries and schools.

Major Upcoming Events:

The shipment of two 40 ft containers of household items to be distributed to estate communities by kind courtesy of Scott and Bill from Brisbane Australia, supported by Zesta- Watawala Tea Ceylon Limited, to benefit 50 families.

3 international cricket teams will visit the FoG Sports Academy in August for community aid sports tours.

FoG's 8th Village Heartbeat Project Empowerment Centre to be established in Oddusuddan (Mullaitivu) in partnership with SriLankan Cares (the CSR arm of SriLankan Airlines) with discussions underway for a 9th Centre in Kilinochchi in collaboration with Spirit of Soccer & an Australian donor, to commence in August. A 10th VHP has also been earmarked in Bandarawela, at a property gifted for this purpose by a caring family in UK.

We are proud to announce that the IRONKIDS Sri Lanka competition (affiliated with IRONMAN 70.3 Colombo, to take place in 2018 for the first time ever in Sri Lanka) will take place in Seenigama in partnership with the Foundation of Goodness - 30th September 2017.

PMTT Tuk-Tuk Charity Ride 2017 initiated by British expat bankers working in Singapore in aid of Foundation of Goodness run charitable humanitarian endeavors to take place for the second time from 15th - 22nd September 2017.

6th annual Murali Harmony Cup Cricket Tournament - October 2017.

Design Innovation Workshop by ICE (Innovation Creativity Entrepreneurship) to be conducted by Professor Suranga Nanayakkara from the Singapore University of Technology and Design- November 2017.

Children Action (Switzerland) to host a group of renowned surgeons in Sri Lanka over a 10 day period to undertake surgeries for rural undeserved beneficiaries.

Discussions underway for a women's entrepreneurship programme in the North and South with Kantala.

Coaches Across Continents visit to the Foundation of Goodness Sports Academy- December 2017.

Discussions are underway for a future partnership with Women Win from The Netherlands.

Monthly cricket coaching camps to be initiated in the North with the sponsorship of Tokyo Cement.

New and innovative enterprise avenues for sustainable income generation underway to attain self-sustainability by the year 2020.