Project Kids ‘N’ Motion (2012)

VAASOCAL invested $12,500 on our younger generations.  

First Cause: VAASOCAL delivered a check worth $7,000 to Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo for the renovation of the Jeremias Dias Hall refurbishment effort. 

Second Cause:  VAASOCAL headed to the ancient village of Thanthirimalaya to donate funds for the Thanthirimalaya Vimalaknana Maha Vidyalaya playground renovation. Amidst the enthusiastic gathering of students, parents, family members and staff, we tendered a check worth $5,000 to Ven. Thanthirimalaya Chandraratana Thero. The playground construction was completed by August 2013. 

Third Cause: VAASOCAL donated a check for $500, to “Abhina” implemented by Mrs. Anoja Weerasinghe. “Abhina” is a project bringing public awareness to the needs of the mentally incapacitated patients in Sri Lanka. 

Thanks to all you and our wonderful friends and family in the LA community VAASOCAL managed to raise approximately $24,000 towards the cause. The funds were raised primarily through “Pahan Silu 2008” and outreach efforts to Visakhians and their friends in LA and North America.

Visakha OGA in Colombo used $14,000 to renovate the bathroom facilities at the Visakha hostel. The construction was completed early this year and several of us visited the brand new facilities during our summer trips to Sri Lanka. The hostellers are most grateful for this generous gift from VAASOCAL.

The remaining funds of $10,000 was routed via “Jayagrahanaya” (Led by Visakhian Dr. Anula Wijesundera) to construct much needed teachers quarters for the school in Padavi Sripura. The quarters were ceremoniously opened this summer thereby enabling the school to secure qualified teachers from other parts of the country.

Our members, their families and friends reached out to Kithal Ella village in Sri Lanka, and provided the children of the village with 145 individually wrapped "shoe boxes" full of school supplies just in time for the 2008 school year. 

 VAASOCAL started off 2007 on a good note by carrying out a collaborative calendar sale to raise funds to help children left destitute by the South Asian tsunami. The profits from the effort enabled a contribution to the Shilpa Children’s Trust in Sri Lanka. Thank you for those of you who purchased and helped sell the calendars. We hope they adorn your homes and remind you everyday that you cared! 

Shilpa Children’s Trust was founded in 1987 to provide shelter and education to orphaned children from war & terrorism in the north and east of Sri Lanka. More recently, it has expanded its outreach to provide shelter, security, care and education to children affected by the tsunami. At present, approximately 50 girls live at Shilpa Children’s Home located in Narahenpita. The girls are enrolled at government schools and are given the opportunity to participate in extra curricular activities such as dancing, music, art and sports. Shilpa also provides vocational training to low-income women in the local communities, helping to raise the quality of life for them and their families. It has a well equipped vocational center which has offered free courses to over 500 unemployed women.

VAASOCAL is happy to have been able to help a worthy organization involved in uplifting the lives of children and women of Sri Lanka. For more information on Shilpa and how you can help, please visit their web site at www.shilpa.org. 

$10,000 contribution to Jayagrahanaya, to assist with the restoration of lives of Veterans of Sri Lanka. $5,000 contribution to VV OGA, to restore the computer lab at the school.

With the help of generous donors, VAASOCAL sponsored a group of 10-11 Visakhians studying in Grade 6 and 7, to be recipients of the VAASOCAL 2010 and 2011 Scholarship (USD 1000 per year, per student). Once again, investing in our alma mater, and hoping these bright youngsters will one day “pay it forward”!

Breast Cancer Project:
$12,000 worth of surgical equipment was donated to Kurunegala Teaching Hospital, Cancer Unit, to be used for breast cancer surgeries. Our aim achieved by this project was to facilitate breast cancer treatment in rural areas of Sri Lanka for early diagnosis and treatment to enhance life expectancy of women diagnosed with breast cancer.  

Prosthetic Limb Project:
$20,837 was used to provide eight childhood bone cancer survivors with prosthetic limbs.
The prosthetics cost from Rs.356,250 to Rs.418,000 each.
The following pictures are posted with permission of the children and their parents, whose lives we managed to touch with new hope.

Diapers for Pediatric Cardiac Surgery ICU and post surgical unit:
Cardiac surgeries  at Lady Ridgeway pediatric hospital, which is the National Children’s hospital in Sri Lanka are performed free of charge. But these children need diapers during their post operative period. Often parents are not able to afford diapers for these children which are not provided by the hospital.
With the help of our member contributions including Enoka Abeyratne, we are donating diapers worth $ 1,000/.