CCC dinner dance Down Under draws good response

Building bridges of hope between children suffering from cancer in Sri Lanka and Australia was the theme of the annual Care for Cancer Children (CCC) dinner dance which drew a crowd of about 700 people to the Moorabbin Town Hall last month.

A raffle with a 32 inch LCD TV as first prize donated by Harvey Norman Greensborough and a silent auction with over 80 items ranging from a cricket bat signed by Sir Donald Bradman and other exciting memorabilia kept the guests on their toes. Monies collected were to be channelled to the Maharagama Cancer Hospital in Sri Lanka and the Peter McCallum Centre at the Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne.

The night's entertainment was expertly co-ordinated by Jetha Devapura, who has over the years of this event worked with a passion to make it a success. Belting out the opening session was Melbourne's music legends Replay six led by Esrick and Sandra Jackson who then continued to entertain with their wide repertoire of rock' n' roll, reggae, calypso and baila through the night.

But the highlight of the entertainment was the young lasses of both Sri Lankan and Australian descent who turned in a breathtaking performance. The standout without doubt was their rendition of "You Raise Me Up" delivered to an emotion-packed audience followed by 'Imagine' sung in Sinhalese and English.

Among the other outstanding features that night were the solo performances of Arnie, the wizard of pop and rock and 14-year-old Juman Ramahi who had the crowd spellbound with a three -song performance.

A strong delegation from the Peter McCallum Cancer Institute graced the occasion as did many patients and parents of patients. CCC also support the Children's Cancer Centre at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. CCC Founder and Chairman Jetha Devapura handed a cheque for $10,000 to Consultant Oncologist Dr. Keith Waters from the RCH.

The CCC Chairman proudly announced that this year the Peter McCallum Cancer Centre will partner with CCC and the RCH to support the project at Maharagama. "CCC's vision of Building Bridges of hope is about linking people and organisations from Australia and Sri Lanka to help all concerned. We are not just about fundraising and improving infrastructure. Our greatest achievement so far has been to link the RCH and now the Peter McCallum to Sri Lanka to introduce the best practices in Oncology to make a real difference, " Jetha said. He also handed over a cheque for $6,000 to John Opie, President of the Bone Marrow Donor Institute for its ethnic donor registry programme to help Sri Lankans in need of a bone marrow transplant worldwide. The remaining funds from the $50,000 dollars were raised by the CCC through generous support by organisations such as the Ananda College OBA, Isipathana College OBA, Lotus Foundation, Knox Tavern to mention a few.

CCC's most ambitious project is to build a CCC House, a 30-room halfway facility similar to the Ronald MacDonald House for underprivileged outpatient children and their carers at Maharagama. The CCC House is a three year project and those interested can contact Jetha on 0438007930.