OVER RS 4 MILLION RAISED | 2,000 FAMILIES REACHED

Dear Batchmates,

We have completed our latest round of our Covid Relief project. 2020 was a strange and difficult year all over the world, with the pandemic causing serious disruption and hardship to life as we know it. As a Group we have always wanted to find the right project to support Royal and on the completion of the very successful batch dance in March, our next focus was to be the project we would do for Royal. But due to the circumstances this was not possible and, instead of doing nothing, we decided to look at helping our fellow countrymen at this very difficult time for many of them. I feel while helping Royal is a noble cause, this effort undertaken by the Group is equally or even more important and keeps with the great traditions and learnings we got from our school. Repaying our debt is not just limited to Royal but also to the country as a whole and we can be proud that during these hard times, we did our part however small or big, in providing relief to those in need.

We raised over 4 million rupees in total and managed to help over 2,000 poor families in need during the course of this effort. This is an amazing effort from all involved and the generosity of the batch members is to be commended. I would like to thank you all for your support and kindness.

We decided not to thank, recognize or post donations given individually. One particular donation though comes to mind and reflects the spirit of the batch as a whole. Where a batch member who I have not seen since we left school, contacted me almost immediately after we started this project and told me he wanted to donate Rs 100,000/- anonymously towards the project, and in a matter of days it was in our account. It is this type of generosity that was seen across the batch and it is in that spirit that we managed to raise this large sum of money. I also must recognize some well-wishers from outside the batch who in the early days were very generous, and gave us the encouragement to raise our goal in the number of families we wanted to help.

Saying that, I would like to thank a few individual batch mates overseas without whose help the success of this project would not have been possible. Their enthusiasm and support was an inspiration and embodies the spirit of selflessness and giving to the community that was the goal of this project.

A big thank you to the following who co-ordinated the fund raising efforts in their respective home countries. Senaka and Priyankara from Canada, Sujit from the US, Chulan, Sumedha and Sherwin from Australia and Hemantha Jay from the UK. All it took was a message and a phone call and they immediately agreed and raised a large portion of the monies collected. The generosity of our batch mates overseas is greatly appreciated.

Next I would like to thank and recognize the efforts of Vision Foundation a volunteer charity organization who we partnered with on this project. Vision handled all the purchasing, packing and logistics for this project. Without their help none of this would be possible.

Finally I would fail if I did not thank the committee as a whole, who immediately recognized the need of the hour in the country and agreed to proceed with this project and backed it from the word go.

Listed below are the donations we received from each country:

This has been a great experience and we can all be proud of the traditions of caring, kindness and charity that was instilled in us by our families and College. Thank you to all batch mates for your generosity, kindness and support.

The montage of the pictures of families receiving the food ration packs that contained provisions to help an average family survive for 14 days, speaks volumes. As they say, pictures speak louder than words!

Thank you Regards

Shiraz Karu
Colombo - 18th January 2021