Backpacks for needy children
Two Sri Lankan sisters Kiara and Siara Gunawardhana, daughters of
Nalaka and Ayoma Gunawardhana of Irvine, California domiciled in the USA
in California Orange County gather backpacks from children around the
area and donate it to needy Sri Lankan children. They have continued
this project from 2009.
Most of the backpacks were donated by school friends and some by
neighboring families. Kiara and Siara distributed flyers in the
neighborhood and also walked door-to- door to collect these backpacks
from neighbours.
With the help of LOC Lions Foundation, in Orange County, California,
they sent the backpacks to Sri Lanka. In 2011, Kiara distributed
backpacks and lunch bags to the children in a school in Mannar.
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Kiara handing over
backpacks |
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Kiara's parents also donated a new DVD player to the school and her
grand-mother and parents donated an additional Rs. 10,000. The school
with 410 pupils received pencils and erasers for all the children given
by their grandmother, Mrs. Nanda Gunawardana.
For the second consecutive year Kiara and Siara jointly conducted the
projectand this time collected 236 backpacks and lunch bags. This year,
their mother Ayoma distributed the backpacks to an underprivileged
school in a remote Sri Lankan village, Kg / Dehi / Kirikohuthenna Junior
School. The school principal, Withanage Wijewadana said there were 128
pupils from year one toyear 12,. Many of them suffer from malnutrition,
some children don't even come to school due to the 3-5mile distance that
they have to walk just to get to school.
Meanwhile, the two sisters have taken it upon themselves to continue
the project annually. |
