VACD Australia & Sri Lanka June 2025 Newsletter

VACD Australia February 2024 Newsletter-01

Contents

“Their Future in Our Hands”

VACD Australia & Sri Lanka June 2025 Newsletter

“When we give alms with our hearts, we give well”

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 informed of important projects, new initiatives and ongoing activity of our mission which supports and uplifts children with disabilities and their families in the Uva Province (8^th poorest out of 9 provinces) of Sri Lanka. Many thanks for your continued support, patronage and commitment.

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.

VACD Australia implements stage one of its succession plan:
In keeping with a VACD Australia board decision taken at the VACD Australia AGM of 2024, Mrs. Shanthi Manamperi (VACD Australia Director – Legal, Governance & Compliance & Coordinator VACD Sri Lanka) would assume the additional role of Chairperson VACD Australia effective July 2025.

This is the first of a series of succession plans being implemented by the VACD Australia Board in order to ensure that our mission remains focused and relevant with dynamic, committed and dedicated directors leading us over future years.

Please extend the support and guidance that you have given me over the past 14+ years to Shanthi – Thank you.

Effective July 2025, my role at our mission will be as Chairman Emeritus – VACD Australia & Sri Lanka.

VACD Sri Lanka and CP Lanka Foundation meeting with his excellency the Honorable Mr. Kapila Jayasekara – Governor Uva Province Sri Lanka and the Provincial Government Team:

VACD Australia & Sri Lanka June 2025 Newsletter 01

The undersigned and Mrs. Yasmin Stephen (Administration & Communication Secretary, VACD Australia) undertook our annual self-funded VACD tour to Sri Lanka in May 2025, and took the opportunity to meet with the newly appointed Governor of Uva Province, as detailed below.

Top photo: left to right: The undersigned, Dr Gopi Kumar Kitnasamy- Founder – CP Lanka Foundation, Hon Gov. Uva Province Sri Lanka Kapila Jayasekara, Mr. Rajkaran Mahendran – C P Lanka Foundation, Mr. D M Ranathunge – Director Projects & programs VACD Sri Lanka and Retd. Col. R M Kumarasinghe – Secretary VACD Sri Lanka.

VACD Australia & Sri Lanka June 2025 Newsletter 03

VACD Australia & Sri Lanka June 2025 Newsletter 04

We also took the opportunity to visit our VACD Bandarawela, Badulla and Ambagasdowa centres, meet with our staff, children, parents and well-wishes. The key medium to long term challenge for us at present is to find suitable avenues of gainful employment and income generating opportunities for our VACD young adults who were very young when they initially entered the VACD fold. Finding suitable employment for these young adults with special needs close to their homes, given that they must have family support is a huge challenge. Please feel free to share any thoughts and suggestions that you may have so that we can together find the right solutions for this developing challenge.

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

Parents of VACD registered children are being encouraged to take their children to local public hospital paediatric clinics for regular checkups since local pedestrians have pledged to extend their support to our mission, parents and children.
Local pediatricians plan to conduct regular clinics either at our centres or at a public venue so that they can extend their services to a larger number of disabled children and their parents in the province.
VACD Australia Director Ms. Gabriella Vascotto (Autism/Behaviour Consultant– Greater Melbourne Area, Australia) is scheduled to introduce a comprehensive “Early Childhood Supported Playgroup Program” across our VACD centres in mid to late July 2024.
VACD centres continue to extend specialist rehabilitation services performed by trained and qualified VACD staff such as life and special skills development and guidance/assistance to parents thereby enabling them to cope with their daily challenges whilst caring for their children.
The Uva Provincial Council Governor’s office plans to hold a one-day seminar involving Sri Lankan and international industry practitioners and experts and all stakeholders covering children’s disabilities across the province in October. This will assist them to plan and implement a more targeted and comprehensive rehabilitation programs for disabled children in the Uva province over future years.
We are delighted that industry experts from the Kelaniya University and Ayati Foundation, Dr. Mithran Coomarasamy – Consultant Paediatrician – Sydney Australia and Dr. Gopi Kitnasamy Cerebral Palsy Lanka Foundation are among the practicing consultants that have agreed to address this conference.
Dr. Gopi Kitnasamy, Founder Cerebral Palsy Lanka Foundation and his colleagues, in collaboration with the Ayati Trust and VACD plan to implement a two-year outreach program to identify, locate and support children with congenital disabilities and their parents in the Uva province in collaboration with the Uva Provincial council, Uva Health Ministry and local medical practitioners.
The “outreach” program aims to locate, support and rehabilitate disabled children as soon as possible since the first 1000 days of a newborn’s life (known as the Golden period) are critically important. The program will commence early detection, provide proper rehabilitation services in order to optimize future outcomes.
Early intervention will ensure a better and brighter future for these children and their families in later years.
We intend launching a global fund-raising campaign to facilitate this outreach program once a comprehensive report covering detailed project objectives, plans, programs and costs are finalised.

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

(Donations made during the Australian financial year 1^st July 2024 to 30^th June 2025 are tax deductible for Australian Taxpayers)

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=036The 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 certainly can make a difference in the lives of children with disabilities, 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 –

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/

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