The famous quote by Robert Ingersoll, WE RISE BY LIFTING OTHERS was put into action by the Community Service Avenue of the Rotaract Club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura giving life to “For Them To Blossom 3.0 – A Journey of Smiles” for the third consecutive time with the sole aim of uplifting and developing the living standards of individuals and communities that are in need of support and care. Our journey went beyond a global pandemic, and our horizon expanded to the needy, proving that they are not detached or forgotten.
The project was composed of three phases out of which the first phase was completed successfully on the 21st of March 2021, the second phase on the 24th of April and the third phase on the 22nd of May 2021.
The first phase of For Them To Blossom 3.0 was organized with the aim of providing dry rations, medical supplies and hygiene care products to five centers in three districts which have been given shelter to a community with differently abled children and elders.
These centres were located in three districts across the country namely; Colombo, Galle and Monaragala. The centers were: Sambodiya welfare society Galle, Preethipura communities Wattala, Meth sewa foundation Wallawaya, Victoria home for incurables Rajagiriya and Bonawista home Unawatuna.
The journey of smiles first began in January 2020 when the organizing committee was appointed to initiate this project for the third time. With the help and guidance of many individuals and partnered companies, donations were collected by the members.
Packaging was done on two days when we, the team members, found satisfaction of what we did as the day to donate the goods to the needy, was not far away. The first road trip was for the centers within Colombo district and the second road trip to donate the goods to the centers located in other districts.
A community of 576+ individuals were reached out by us where each individual’s requirements in terms of dry rations, medical items and hygiene care items for two weeks was donated. Donations worth of LKR 300,000/= was donated with the support and assistance of many individual donors and organizations that partnered for this project with the aim of boosting up the ability of the entire organizing committee to serve these communities better and bigger!
In all honesty, we were astonished in delight the day we got to know that ICERT Lanka offered to partner with the project to provide all logistical needs where they safely transported goods and members to and from the centers. The main partner of the project was SLT Mobitel and their monetary contribution assisted the team to expand capacity to serve these communities.
Fab Foods was so generous to us that they agreed to partner up with us as the Silver Partner for phase one. Material donations was contributed to us by Hemas – Diva detergent and Velona Cuddles not forgetting that Craft Photography helped us capture the moments to keep these moments last a lifetime!
With that, we finally completed phase one; Hearts filled, Smiles oh so big. As a team we made it a point to somehow serve our people in times of need especially during a time like the pandemic.
And next came the most awaited second phase, where we were excited to visit the individuals in the Bethesda Drug Rehabilitation Centre Negambo. With the hope of building a new horizon we provided them job opportunities to secure their future and to leave them with something that they can cherish a lifetime, and to make use of it to re-build their bubbly future that’s waiting for them.
The Vocational Training Authority, Alumex PLC and ADIC Sri Lanka were the main partners in delivering vocational training for the second phase. 200 people at Bethesda Rehabilitation Center received counselling sessions, motivational encouragement, practical workshops conducted based on Aluminum where the community constructed a window frame using Aluminum.
We were extremely happy to see them learn something new that could pave their way for the future same like us as we strongly believe that every individual regardless of their past, deserves a chance to revamp and rebuild their lives with due respect and dignity.
We are all grateful to PlantMe.LK and Eli Creators for being the gift partners for the second phase. Although our words weren’t sufficient to express our gratitude to the respective individuals who conducted the sessions, our gift partners helped us to convey our reciprocation with their lovely gifts!
With that we completed the second phase of For Them To Blossom 3.0 with happiness and content gained by merely seeing someone else smile. So up next for the third phase we reached a community totally different to the communities we reached via phase one and two.
An indoor play area and essential toy items needed for the kids with special abilities were donated to the Ashinsa Resource center Sevanagala, Monaragala to uplift their inner talents and creativity.
50 children who were under Autism, ADHD, Cerebral Palsy, Wepa Syndrome were the target beneficiaries of this phase. A worth of Rs. 55,650 was executed to build this indoor play area. Also, we got the opportunity to donate several special need toy items like Jumbo paint brushes, Wooden chunky puzzles, Plush toys for infants (rattles), Jumbo wooden blocks, Magnetic tiles, Magnetic Ball run, Finger Paints, Play Mat (Alphabet and Numbers),10 infant chairs, Sensory Pin Art boards, Sensory brushes and Kaleidoscopes. We hope that these beautiful souls will build up their talents and creativity to blossom up their future life.
We will not fail to rise up by lifting others as we believe that the tag line of our project “a journey of smiles” doesn’t remain just as a tag line. Hence,“For Them To Blossom 3.0“ was a successful action which was taken by a team of passionate young Rotaractors to serve people in need.
Yet, another successful journey of FOR THEM TO BLOSSOM came to an end!!!
Written by Rtr. Eesha Madugalle
Such a good will ❤️