Dear friends, colleagues, supporters, and collaborative partners,

Greetings to all of you from all of us at VACD Australia and Sri Lanka.

Please share this newsletter with your families, friends, loved ones, colleagues and acquaintances and help us broaden our sponsorship group through your patronage and participation. This regular publication keeps subscribers well-informed of important initiatives and ongoing activity of our mission which supports and uplifts children with disabilities and their families in the Uva Province (8th poorest out of 9 provinces) of Sri Lanka. Many thanks.

Our Mission: Our mission is to serve children with disabilities and their families as equals, regardless of their caste, creed, race, or locality, and to foster VACD’s ethos of love, care, unity, and support for each other, thereby fortifying multi-layered and long-lasting foundations for community accord, harmony, prosperity and mutual well-being.

Impactful News

The Uva Provincial Ministry of Health in Badulla Sri Lanka, have officially approved local paediatricians working in the government hospitals of Diyatalawa and Welimada to visit our centres located in Ambagasdowa and Bandarawela, examine our VACD children, recommend treatment, rehabilitation, curriculums and programs at government hospital clinics and our VACD centres and issue medical prescriptions (if needed) for these children. They will also regularly provide parents of these children and the VACD Sri Lanka leadership and VACD staff with advice and guidance.

This is absolutely wonderful news, thanks to the tireless efforts of our VACD Sri Lanka Directors who liaised with the Ministry of Health Uva to achieve this outstanding outcome. We wish to place on record our heartfelt thanks and deep gratitude to our VACD Sri Lanka leadership team, VACD Sri Lanka director Dr. Ranjith Amarakoon – Retired Medical Superintendent – Base Hospital Diyatalawa, Dr. Chaminda Liyanage – Consultant Paediatrician Base Hospital Diyatalawa, Mr. Kapila Jayasekara – Governor Uva Province, Dr. (Mrs.) Janitha Tennakoon – Director Health Services Uva and Dr. Amitha Sumanasekara – Assistant Secretary Medical Services Uva for their encouragement, support and guidance for this particular initiative and their across-the-board support for our mission over the past years.

VACD Sports News

The Badulla District Sports Competition for Disabled Children was conducted by the Department of Social Services and the Divisional Secretary’s Office on 11 March 2025 at which our VACD children secured following results: Bandarawela Centre: 6 × First place, 5 × 2nd place and 3 × 3rd place, Badulla Centre: 3 × First place, 3 × 2nd place and 1 × 3rd place and Ambagasdowa Centre: 13 × First place, 5 × 2nd place and 3 × 3rd place. Heartiest congratulations to all participants and our successful VACD children.

More delightful News:

Ms. Ratnam Sharmila – Founder member of our Young VACD members Club and a member of our staff at our VACD Badulla centre, successfully completed her Diploma in Special Needs Education as per details below. We are happy that Sharmila has decided to make a vocation of working with disabled children. Congratulations and the very best to you now and over the coming years dear Sharmila.

VACD Bandarawela Centre Street Fair:

Our VACD Bandarawela centre children held a street fair selling their home garden produce to the public on Monday, 17th March as per photos below:

VACD’s Projects, Programs and Planned Activities in the Uva Province for 2025/26

Please visit the following link: Ongoing Projects | Volunteers to Assist Children with Disabilities or detailed information on the above

Regular updates on our VACD Facebook Page:

Ms. Aloyna (Pinky) Taylor, VACD’s Head of Digital Communication together with Mrs. Yasmin Stephen, VACD’s Administration & Communication Secretary, post regular news and updates on a range of VACD activities and news on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/vacdlk.

Australian Dollar Donations via Direct Bank Transfers:

Name of Account: Volunteers to Assist Children with Disabilities Limited

Bank: Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Liverpool & Castlereagh Streets Branch,

Cnr. of Liverpool & Castlereagh Streets, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia

Account No: 1130 2156    BSB: 062-016    BIC/SWIFT Code: CTBAAU2S

Sri Lanka Rupee Donations via Direct Bank Transfers:

Name of Account: Volunteers to Assist Children with Disabilities Private Limited
Bank: Seylan Bank, 240, Badulla Road, Bandarawela, Sri Lanka
Account Number: 046035439722001

Note: Please send an email to: fstephen@bigpond.net.au ensuring that your name and email address are mentioned when making direct bank transfers. Thank you

International Multicurrency Donations:

International donors who wish to support our mission can do so through the Benevity Causes portal via the hyperlink below for all your multi-currency donation options:

https://mygoodness.benevity.org/community/search?query=vacd&country=036

The full list of all your donation options:

The following hyperlink will enable you to find all donation options that are available to you on our webpage: https://www.vacd.org.au/donate/

A big “Thank You” to all of you from all of us at VACD and children with disabilities and their families in the region

Our journey is bound to be long and challenging. The official and unofficial number of children and their families who need our love, support, compassion, and care are sizeable and increasing steadily. We look forward to your continued generosity, active support for our undertaking and your partnership with us in this most fulfilling and worthwhile 13+ year journey that we traverse together.

Please visit us at: https://www.vacd.org.au/ and reach out to us at: fstephen@bigpond.net.au should you choose to support our mission. Please share this newsletter with your network so that together we undoubtedly can make a difference in the lives of children with disabilities and their families in the Uva province, one by one!!!

Many thanks for your continued support, best wishes, and warmest regards…. Felix

Felix Stephen

Chairman of the Board of Directors – VACD Ltd. Sydney – Australia – https://www.vacd.org.au/

Member of the Advisory Board – VACD Sri Lanka

Member of the Advisory Board – Two Leaves Foundation Sri Lanka

Senior Associate – Cognoscenti Group – Sydney – Australia- http://www.cognoscenti.global/

Member of Investment Committee – Arrive Wealth Management – Brisbane – Australia – https://www.arrivewealthmanagement.com.au/