“Hope Song” for the children
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Pix by Sanjay Pathmanathan
Head to the Barefoot Café on Saturday (November 21) for some great music, and help the organizers of ‘Hope Song’ change the lives of school children in the most rural areas of Sri Lanka including the North, East and Central Provinces. The show starts at 7.30 pm.
The concert is organized by the Foundation of Goodness in partnership with the Rotaract Clubs of Colombo, Colombo Regent and Colombo Millennium City.
All proceeds from the show will be directed to the Essential School Supplies Pack Programme (ESSP) which was introduced in 1999.
Items given to children include a school uniform, school bag, school shoes, books and other stationary. “Some of these children go to school without shoes on their feet and many drop out because they do not have books or stationary,” explains Sanjay Pathmanathan, project coordinator.
“This program is in place to allow children to benefit from their education by having the tools they need to.”
The schools are identified and evaluated by the project officials. “These bags are given to the most underprivileged,” Sanjay added. “Students who might one day be able to contribute to Sri Lanka in a big way.
All we can do is to make sure they’re given the necessary tools to do so.” Over the years 22,000 school packs have been distributed.
This year the organizers have collected packs for 2,180 children of a targeted 2,500 – ‘Hope Song’, they hope, will allow them to make up the difference.
The show will feature artists Cosmogyral, Asela Perera, Oshan Fernando, Larry T Hill, Svetlana Abeysekera, Suren De Kauwe, Joshua Vittachi, Dineli Sun and Sanjay Pathmanathan.
“Hope Song” is organized by a team including members Sanjay Pathmanathan, Shehan Dias, Nisheda Samaranayake, Ashni Perera, Isuru Suharshana, Hasara Kulatunga, Ryan Keil and Larry T Hill.
“Hope Song” is on November 21 from 7.30 pm at the Barefoot Café. Tickets for the show priced at Rs. 1,000 are available at the Foundation of Goodness (30/32 Longden Place and at Park Street Mews.
(Duvindi)
