North-South exchange: Foundation of Goodness helping hand with schoolbooks
View(s):The Foundation of Goodness hosted Northern Province Education Minister, Thambyrajah Gurukularajah at the Foundation of Goodness MCC Centre of Excellence in Seenigama on Saturday, December 12.
Northern Province Education Minister, Thambyrajah Gurukularajah with Kushil Gunasekera of the Foundation of Goodness
Mr. Gurukularajah participated in a special North/ South exchange of school supplies packs event as part of the FoG Essential School Supplies Programme for the 2016 school year.
He also visited FoG’s 30 empowerment sectors, including the Seenigama Sports Academy.
A cheque for 300 school packs was presented to the Foundation of Goodness by the OruPaanai Trust under the guidance of the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia Somasundaram Skandakumar to benefit children in the South whilst in return, the Foundation of Goodness presented a cheque for 633 school packs to be distributed in the North, East and among children of the Estate community.
Mr. Gurukularajah was fascinated to see the reach of the Foundation’s activities and deeply impressed to see how tsunami relief had been put to such good use in creating a holistic, one of a kind development model village which rose out of devastation.
The Minister was enthusiastic about replicating this model in the north, utilising funding generated for redevelopment after the war, which is exactly what the Foundation of Goodness seeks to do by constructing the North Learning and Empowerment Institute in the Mankulam region.
The Minister’s visit came in reciprocation for 60 consecutive monthly visits to the north by the Foundation of Goodness, carrying out humanitarian and development activities since January 2011 touching the lives of over 25,000 beneficiaries.
Programmes have included the distribution of 3,700 bikes, livelihood programmes, sports training and development, provision of essential home items, agricultural provisions, schools development projects, relief aid, women’s empowerment, water and sanitation, village development, IT Training, provision of psycho social and medical care and the annual Murali Harmony Cup Cricket Tournament which has taken place across 5 venues in the North since 2012.
The distribution of these school packs are part of the Foundation of Goodness’s Essential School Supplies Programme (ESSP) which has now been active for over 15 years, with 25,000 school supplies packs being given to children all across the island.
The Foundation of Goodness (FoG) was established in 1999 to bridge the gap between the rural and urban populations.