We appeal for your compassionate benevolence, altruism, and collaboration to uplift the lives of children with disabilities!!!
Volunteers to Assist Children with Disabilities (VACD) is a limited liability & not-for profit company registered with the Australian Securities & Exchange Commission (ASIC), and the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC), with the Registrar General of Companies in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and with the Department of Business Services under the General Not-for-Profit Corporation Act in the USA.
The mission of VACD is to to enrich the lives of children with disabilities and their families in the poorest provinces of Sri Lanka; by identifying and addressing their physical and intellectual impairments, financial hardships, social and community prejudices and creating an environment that is conducive for them to overcome these challenges, live independent lives, and become valuable citizens who are accepted by their communities, irrespective of caste, race, or creed.
VACD aims to eliminate poverty, ignorance, discrimination, social isolation, vilification, incest and sexual abuse etc. while promulgating and encouraging communities to value, uphold and respect the rights of children with disabilities and their families.
Our ongoing Projects & Programs:
- Provide life skills, basic education, music and dance, computer literacy, vocational, physical education and social recreation training to children who attend our centres;
- Provide nutritious meals for children who attend the centres, give medical, educational, family and financial assistance on a special needs basis;
- Provide vocational, cottage industry skills, homebased therapy and early detection, leadership and advocacy training, arranging microfinance under the VACD umbrella for VACD parents;
- Conduct workshops, seminars and camps for parents and carers, equip and liaise with paediatric clinics in hospitals, launch regular media campaigns to raise awareness in the immediate and broader communities of the plight of children with disabilities and their families and generate support and assistance from the local communities, corporates, government and non- government authorities for our mission;
We have established a collaborative partnership agreement with the Methodist Church of Sri Lanka (MCSL) and will soon open two new VACD/MCSL centres in the townships of Badulla and Welimada so that we can reach out to families with disabled children in rural, remote and impoverished communities.
The proposed Badulla centre building that requires funds for major repairs and refurbishment are the left and centre photos and the photo on the right is the proposed Welimada centre building that also requires repairs and refurbishment.
How to donate:
- You can make your donations at the VACD webpage: http://www.vacd.org.au/ by using the “donate” drop-down tab and making your choice;
- To pay directly to a VACD bank account, the details can be found under the ‘Donate’ tab and ‘Bank account details’;
- The Goodcompany Platform: https://www.goodcompany.com.au/
This platform provides you with the opportunity to help children with disabilities and donate funds for our programs and projects that are tax efficient for Australian tax payers. You may decide to support a given program or project by making a pre-tax salary sacrifice arrangement with your employer that could be further enhanced if the employer has a workplace giving/matching grant policy, or you could use the official tax-deductible receipt issued by the Goodcompany for tax purposes.
We have listed the following programs/projects on the Goodcompany platform under Directed Funds /Gifts option:
- Help us Feed a child with disabilities;
- Help a child with disabilities to learn;
- Help maintain a centre for children with disabilities;
- Help a family of a child with disabilities;
- Help us furnish and equip a new centre for children with disabilities;
- Help us to organise workshops to train parents in homebased rehabilitation;
- Help us to employ a special education teacher;
- Help us to purchase exercise equipment for our disabled children;
How to donate towards the above programs/projects:
- Control + Click on the following link: https://www.goodcompany.com.au/charity/Volunteers-to-Assist-Children-with-Disabilities
- Click on the ‘donate’ tab for the specific program of your choice;
- Complete your personal details and register yourself as a donor;
- Make your donation;
- Note: The registration process is designed to comply with privacy and governance laws and ensure that donations are recorded and kept in a secure environment.
The Australian Taxation Office have endorsed VACD for charity concessions and Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status which enables Australian donors to receive tax rebates for their donations to us while ACNC have given us their “Tick of Approval” for transparency and accountability.
Please visit our webpage http://www.vacd.org.au/ for more information on our mission in Sri Lanka and be part of our humanitarian VACD family journey that began in 2011.
Many thanks best wishes and warm regards…Felix
Felix Stephen
Chairman of the Board of Directors – VACD Ltd. Sydney – Australia – http://www.vacd.org.au/
Member of the Advisory Board – VACD USA – http://www.vacdusa.org/
Member of the Advisory Board – VACD Sri Lanka
Senior Associate – Cognoscenti Group – Sydney – Australia- http://www.cognoscenti.global/
Consultant – Investment Committee – Lonsec – Sydney – Australia – https://www.lonsec.com.au/
Member of Investment Committee – Arrive Wealth Management – Brisbane – Australia – http://brisbane.arrivewealthmanagement.com.au/
Consultant – Global Financial Market Investment Research & Investment Strategy
E-mail: felixswstephen@gmail.com / fstephen@bigpond.net.au