Dear friends, colleagues, supporters, and collaborative partners,
Greetings to you, your families, loved ones and colleagues from all of us at VACD.
VACD Australia AGM & Succession Strategy:
The Annual General Meeting of the VACD Australia Board was held on Sunday, 15th September in Sydney. Key proposals endorsed at this meeting were – the appointment of Farrah Carim (member of the VACD Melbourne Chapter) to the VACD Australia Board, Roderick De Sylva to assume the role of Director Marketing & Public Relations and implementing our succession plan effective 1st July 2025.
Under our succession plan, Shanthi Manamperi – Director Legal, Governance & Compliance and Coordinator VACD Sri Lanka would assume the role of Chairperson – VACD Australia, and the undersigned the role of Chairman Emeritus. We agreed to streamline various team responsibilities during the interim period and seek out young, talented, and dedicated people to join our leadership team. Our main motivation is to consolidate our achievements to date and uphold our stated mission objectives in the future.
Local Community Support at our Ambagasdowa Centre:
It is encouraging and heartwarming to observe the extent to which the local community in the Ambagasdowa region support our children, projects, programs & activities since the Ambagasdowa centre was established. The local community regularly provide nourishing meals for our children, as shown in the photographs above.
Donation of Laptop Computers to VACD Sri Lanka:
Rukshan & Farrah Carim (Farrah is a VACD Director and member of our VACD Melbourne Chapter) have been sponsors and long-term supporters of our mission since we were established. They recently donated 10 laptop computers to our VACD Sri Lanka centres that are now being used by our staff and also to coach our children (basic training) in computer literacy. We wish to place on record our deep appreciation for the support we have and continue to receive from Rukshan and Farrah. Thank you dear Rukshan & Farrah for your unceasing support, passion and commitment towards our mission.
Donation of Wheelchairs to our VACD Sri Lanka Centres:
Dananjaya Silva (Retired Senior Manager Bank of Ceylon Sri Lanka) and Premasiri Ratnayake (Ex Bank of Ceylon and retired Senior Banker in Sri Lanka) coordinated their efforts to arrange for three wheelchairs to be donated to our three VACD centres in the Uva province.
These wheelchairs were sourced for VACD by the abovenamed via “Sahanasarana Social Welfare Foundation” (Kalutara), email – ssfssrilanka@yahoo.com, who receive these wheelchairs from the Japanese National Council of Social Welfare (JNCSW) – About Japan National Council of Social Welfare｜全国社会福祉協議会 (shakyo.or.jp) . JNCSW coordinate the collection of funds via savings/pocket money donated to them by school children to source these wheelchairs and donate them to deserving organisations. Thank you dear Dananjaya, Premasiri, JNCSW and Japanese school children for your magnanimity and generosity towards those who need your love, support and care the most.
Providing a facility for parents who accompany their children to our VACD Ambagasdowa Centre:
During our recent visit to our VACD centres in Sri Lanka, parents who bring their children to our Ambagasdowa centre and spend their day at the location, requested us to provide them with a facility where they could shelter, be productive and support our mission.
Our local VACD leadership team and VACD parents, with the assistance and guidance of supporters and local volunteers built this facility as seen in photos above: This area will also be used for children’s activities and training. Many thanks to all for your services and for donating your skills and expertise towards this project.
Teardrop Hotels to provide economic support for our Ambagasdowa Parents:
Teardrop Hotels, (https://www.treardrop-hotels.com), official sponsor of our VACD Ambagasdowa centre have arranged for the installation of a rainwater harvesting water tank to facilitate the irrigation system for their home gardening project that will be managed by our VACD parents. Garden produce will be used for children’s meals and any excess sold to the public, generating an income stream for the families.
A Teardrop representative met with Ambagasdowa parents on Thursday, 19th September to brief them on the water tank project and share ideas on best practice on home gardening, as seen in the above photos. Thank you, Teardrop Hotels, for your continued support for our mission.
Donation of Smart TVs to VACD Sri Lanka Centres:
Shanthi (VACD Australia) and Palitha Manamperi who recently visited our VACD centres in Sri Lanka donated Smart TVs to our three centres so that special children’s programs and educational series would assist our staff to help our children in the continuing rehabilitation process. We wish to place on record our deep appreciation and sincere thanks to Shanthi, Palitha, their son Panduka and family friend Wije Ariyaratne for this meritorious act and their continuous generosity and support for our mission.
VACD’s Projects, Programs, Planned Activities in the Uva Province & Cost estimates for FY 2024/25
- Continuation and extension of our Education Assistance Program and Family Assistance Program (based on available data and projections).
Estimate: A$ 20,000 P/A
- Continuation and enhancements to our Nutrition Program (based on available data and projections).
Estimate: A$ 10,000 P/A
- Provide travel, medical assistance to children from impoverished regions and financially stressed households and free prescribed medication to all our VACD children.
Estimate: Being Discussed and evaluated on a case by case basis
- Conduct quarterly health clinics for VACD children. Implement an “outreach” program via this initiative into remote rural areas of the Uva province where parents having children with disabilities need to be made aware of the reasons for their child’s health condition and how to obtain medical guidance and expert advice, in collaboration with the local Ministry of Health (based on available data and projections).
Estimate: A$ 50,000 P/A
- Conduct regular leadership, vocational, computer, Excel/Word, motivational & other skills training etc. for VACD children, their parents, siblings (based on available data and projections).
Estimate: A$ 10,000 P/A
- Provide training, equipment and supplies to implement income generating activities and projects for older VACD children attending our centres (based on available data and projections).
Estimate: A$ 10,000 P/A
- Implement household income generating programs for VACD parents and families by providing resources such as sewing machines, overlockers, fabric etc., training in home gardening, animal husbandry, bee keeping and other income generating activities in collaboration with Teardrop Hotels and other local & provincial government agencies/specialists (based on available data and projections).
Estimate: A$ 50,000 P/A
- Provide regular hands-on specialist training for all our assistant teachers at our VACD centre in Bandarawela on a quarterly basis (based on available data and projections).
Estimate: A$ 10,000 P/A
- Provide equipment for physical training, sports, exercise, recreation, art, craft, painting, music, dance, singing, vocational and life skills training, audio-visual equipment, computers, printers/scanners for rehabilitation, workshops & seminars for computer literacy training and additional office furniture to facilitate our capacity enhancement program (based on available data and projections).
Estimate: A$ 30,000 P/A
- Implement our “Early Childhood Supported Playgroup Program” for young children with developmental concerns by VACD Australia Director Ms Gabriella Vascotto – Visiting Consultant to VACD centres in Sri Lanka, Learning Consultant Autism/Behaviour and Supported Playgroup Project Consultant for Catholic Education Melbourne, assisted by Mrs. Netaisha Harvey – VACD’s Head of Inclusive Education & Partnerships (based on available data and projections).
Estimate: A$ 20,000 P/A
Australian Dollar Donations via Direct Bank Transfers:
Name of Account: Volunteers to Assist Children with Disabilities Limited
Bank: Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Liverpool & Castlereagh Streets Branch,
Cnr of Liverpool & Castlereagh Streets, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
Account No: 1130 2156 BSB: 062-016 BIC/SWIFT Code: CTBAAU2S
Sri Lanka Rupee Donations via Direct Bank Transfers:
Name of Account: Volunteers to Assist Children with Disabilities Private Limited
Bank: Seylan Bank, 240, Badulla Road, Bandarawela, Sri Lanka
Account Number: 046035439722001
Note: Please send an email to: fstephen@bigpond.net.au ensuring that your name and email address are mentioned when making direct bank transfers. Thank you
International Multicurrency Donations:
International donors who wish to support our mission can do so through the Benevity Causes portal via the hyperlink below for all your multi-currency donation options:
https://mygoodness.benevity.org/community/search?query=vacd&country=036
The full list of all your donation options:
The following hyperlink will enable you to find all donation options that are available to you on our webpage: https://www.vacd.org.au/donate/
Regular updates on our VACD Facebook Page:
Ms Aloyna (Pinky) Taylor, VACD’s Head of Digital Communication, posts regular news and updates on a range of VACD activities on our Facebook page. I would encourage you to please follow us on https://www.facebook.com/vacdlk for timely news about our mission. Please also support us by following, liking, commenting, and sharing VACD posts with your family, friends, loved ones, colleagues etc. so that your help will enable us, via the algorithms built into this electronic social networking & communication platform, to reach out to many more who, like you, share in our vision and mission for disabled children in Sri Lanka. Thank you.
A big “Thank You” to all of you from all of us at VACD and children with disabilities and their families in the region
Our journey is bound to be long and challenging. The official and unofficial number of children and their families who need our love, support, compassion, and care are sizeable and increasing steadily. We look forward to your continued generosity, active support for our undertaking and you being partners with us in this most fulfilling and worthwhile 12+ year journey that we traverse together.
Please visit us at: https://www.vacd.org.au/ and reach out to us at: fstephen@bigpond.net.au should you choose to support our mission. Please share this newsletter with your network so that together we certainly can make a difference in the lives of children with disabilities, one by one!!!
Many thanks for your continued support, best wishes, and warmest regards…. Felix
Felix Stephen
Chairman of the Board of Directors – VACD Ltd. Sydney – Australia – https://www.vacd.org.au/
Member of the Advisory Board – VACD Sri Lanka
Member of the Advisory Board – Two Leaves Foundation Sri Lanka
Senior Associate – Cognoscenti Group – Sydney – Australia- http://www.cognoscenti.global/
Member of Investment Committee – Arrive Wealth Management – Brisbane – Australia – https://www.arrivewealthmanagement.com.au/