St. Joseph’s College ‘Hope’ Concert

By Joshua Surendraraj

Christmas is a time for giving and what better time to give than now, when people need it the most. This is just what the prefects body of St Joseph’s College Colombo 10 look to do with their virtual concert HOPE.

HOPE which is in aid of raising funds for the supportive staff of the school, will take place on Wednesday (30) starting at 6.00pm

For the past few years, the prefects body of St Joseph’s College Colombo 10 would, with the help of the school, conduct a Christmas programme for the supportive staff members. This would typically  include a range of fun filled activities and entertainment.

This year, owing to the prevailing situation in the country the prefects, being the student representatives, felt there was a need to provide essentials to the supportive staff,  in addition to the school helping them.

For the first time, together with school, they decided to organise a virtual concert in order to raise funds. Looking back at the year we’ve all had, the prefects decided to go with the name HOPE, with the intention of delivering the message of hope for a new beginning.

They feel music has the ability to bring people together and connect us  through hard times. This is just why they picked a range of artists across Sri Lanka to perform at the show.

These artists include Daddy, ReBlock, RENATO Motha, Minesh Dissanayake, Tilanka and Lydia, Channuka and Julius Mitchell.

A virtual project of this nature entails a lot of hard work. Perhaps, the biggest challenges the prefects faced was to find a user friendly platform that enables viewers to stream the concert with the best audio and video quality and of course finding sponsors.

But, with true effort and dedication, things came together. 

Reflecting on 2020, the Prefects were reminded that we should not take things for granted. They also observed how people needed each other more than ever during a global crisis. This new perspective of life, taught them that it’s always important to help others and dedicate the time to be there for them.

By organizing this Charity project, the prefects wanted to recognize the silent heroes of the school.”The supportive staff members sacrifice everything toiling day and night keeping the school premises clean, and due to the COVID situation they had to work over and above  to maintain the cleanliness of the school in accordance with the local health regulations,” they tell us. And the Prefects Body we wish to present hope to give back and show their gratitude to these staff members in their time of need.

They are thankful for the guidance and support rendered by the College Rector, Rev. Fr. Ranjith Andradi, the Vice Rector Rev. Fr. Ruwan Deshapriya and the Master in Charge of the Prefects Body, Ravi Fonseka.

The Prefects feel the concert would not have been possible without the help of Tilanka Jayamanne, of Sound Scope, Geethika Cooray and Russel Valentine and many prominent Old Boys of the school.

Tickets for HOPE are priced at   Rs.300  and can be purchased on MyTickets.lk . Once the ticket is purchased a set of guidelines/ instructions will be provided to enable the user to view the concert via the platform.