Sinhalese Cultural Centre –  JanaShakthi Appeal – Current Economic Environment

The Sinhalese Cultural Centre (SCC) is progressing well and the community is reaping the benefits of the facility. The activities at the Sinhalese Cultural Centre is increasing and get exciting!

This is Our Cultural Centre, belongs to the whole community, established with the excellent and continuous support from the community, in particular many volunteers supporting activities day and night, JanaShakthi contributors who contributed generously  and every one in the community who contributed in numerous ways.

While we are progressing and delivering what the community is looking for, we are facing great financial challenges due to the current economic environment in the country. In particular, the interest rate has become nearly 3 times what we had in late 2020!. We need your urgent and continuous support to sustain and further develop the Cultural Centre for us in the living generations and many future generations to come.

Current Status and Activities at SCC 

The Sinhalese Cultural Centre is used by the Sinhalese Cultural Forum (SCF), the SCF sub-organisations such as Sinhala Language Schools, Tharuna Youth Group (TYG), Writers Guild and Orange Leaf Seniors Group. Further, many other Sri Lankan community organisations have started to use the SCC for their activities. These activities includes meetings, social gatherings, education workshops, teacher training sessions, dancing/music/drama practices, food preparation activities to support fundraising activities and many more. The SCC team is delighted to see the Cultural Centre is used well and the usage is increasing.

In February this year, Blacktown City Council approved the property as a “Community facility” after a comprehensive assessment. This is a great news and we are currently planning the development work that needs to be carried out as part of the development approval.

Recently, the Sinhalese Cultural Centre received a grant from Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade (Create NSW) to install an audio & video system together with computing equipment. This audio & video system installation is largely completed and the users will be able to use it for their activities.

The Sinhalese Cultural Centre as a Partner of the government Be Connected program, successfully delivered three “Digital Literacy for Seniors” program helping our seniors to improve their digital literacy essential for day to day life. Further, the SCC received a grant from the Be Connected program to procure laptops and tablets for the future Digital Literacy for Seniors sessions.

Audio and Video System installation at SCC nearly complete

Packing food at recent Food Packet fundraiser

Volunteers busy in getting food ready!

Just making sure the right amount of ingredients goes in!

Digital Literacy for Seniors program – Getting ready!

Hoppers Cafe at SCC in full swing

Your support is so vital – Please contribute to JanaShakthi Spring Appeal!

The sustainment and further development of the SCC is so important to the whole community. The sustainment it self costs nearly $4700 per month including the loan repayments. Obviously, the current very high interest rates has caused great challenges to the SCC team. The SCC is receiving government grants for many other purposes such as equipment purchases and other programs, but not for core expenses such as loan repayments and utility bills. The SCC team with great volunteers make a large effort to raise funds through various fundraising activities. However, we certainly need your generous contribution to address current financial challenges and to prepare for the development in the near future.

We kindly request everyone of you to make donations to our JanaShakthi Spring Appeal with best of your ability. They can be lump sum contributions or regular contributions. You can make the contributions with a credit card or a bank transfer to our Public Fund. All the details are provided in our JanaShakthi Contribution  Scheme page at https://www.ozlanka.com/janashakthi/.

Please note that All the Contributions to SCC Public Fund are Tax Deductible.

Yours Sincerely,

Sinhalese Cultural Centre Team

Email: sccmedia@sccsydney.org.au

Sinhalese Cultural Centre

28 Cacia Avenue

Seven Hills NSW 2147

ABN: 58 609 620 617 (A registered charity organisation in Australia)
This is Our Sinhalese Cultural Centre which will serve our community for many generations to come. We appreciate your kind contributions for the JanaShakthi Summer Appeal, with best of your ability!