Dear All,

Trust this finds you and your loved ones well.

Felix and I are about to embark on a self-funded three-week tour of Sri Lanka and our itinerary is packed with appointments to meet with private individuals, government and corporate officials to garner support for our following programs:

• Establishment of proposed Welimada and Badulla VACD Centres;
• Support for equipping and furnishing the above proposed centres;
• Sponsors for the running expenses of the proposed centres;
• Sponsors for the new ‘Family Assistance Program’, under which a VACD registered financially stressed family will receive a supplementary allowance of $20 to $25 per month;

Please consider sponsoring a VACD project of your choice, by visiting the following website:

https://www.goodcompany.com.au/charity/Volunteers-to-Assist-Children-with-Disabilities

A big ‘Thank you!’ to:

Melbournians Mr. Annesley Caspersz and Ms Franziska Gasser(pictured below) who very kindly took time out of their busy holiday schedule in Sri Lanka to visit Bandarawela and entertain and enthral an audience of VACD children with their demonstrations of juggling and balancing skills.

Mr. Stefan Jaro, whose meticulous service and impressive skills as the Digital Strategist at Litmus Communications Agency, alongside his equally talented colleagues established the VACD Facebook page, produced a crowd-funding video and maintained our VACD webpage. We deeply appreciate Stefan’s passion for our mission and extend our heartfelt thanks and best wishes to him as he leaves Litmus to pursue his higher academic interests.

His Excellency Mr Somasundaram Skandakumar, Sri Lanka High Commissioner (photo below) for Australia for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with us and discuss our mission in detail. Mr Skandakumar is an avid supporter of our vision and mission and has already put us in touch with some valuable contacts.

We are proud…

…to reduce our administrative expenses to a new low of 4% of total expenses, thus ensuring your much-appreciated donor dollars are deployed for programs for our VACD children.

…to welcome Mrs Shanthi Manamperi, (Chief Risk & Compliance Officer -Taiwan Cooperative Bank Ltd in Sydney and a former colleague at Bank of Ceylon, Colombo) to the VACD family as she joins the VACD Sydney Board.  Shanthi, since we reconnected with her in Sydney, has been a great source of support for our mission. We are happy and honoured to have you on board Shanthi!

…to have Arpico Ataraxia Capital as a sponsor – they have long supported us, and we are grateful for their commitment to place money boxes for VACD at their venture fast food outlets, and their hospitality and tourism training program for VACD children and their siblings.

Please share this newsletter with your family, friends, loved ones and colleagues so that together we can make a difference in the lives of children with disabilities and our humanitarian mission a success.

Our sincere thanks to all of you for your continued invaluable support, guidance and assistance and for being part of this incredible, challenging and immensely rewarding journey. Shall stay in close touch. Best wishes and warm regards…. Yasmin

Yasmin Stephen

Administration & Communications Secretary

Volunteers to Assist Children with Disabilities Limited, Australia

& Member of the Advisory Board VACD US