I believe it was Henry David Thoreau who poured his wisdom into the good words; “Goodness is the only investment that never fails, and that it is much better than beauty.” This is the level of goodness that binds people together, takes friendships an extra mile to building bonds and functioning together as one. After all, we are much stronger when functioning together. And goodness comes as a package when it’s in the middle of the Season of Giving: Christmas. Maybe it’s the winter’s wind or spirit that comes with the festival but still, nevertheless, it’s much stronger, compelling and well-founded. A simple act of goodness or kindness goes a long way, from a painless favour to taking a bite out of hunger and bringing smiles off of the hearts of little kids.
This was the same level of goodness and of course, the spirit and joy of Christmas that led us, the Rotaractors of ICBT, into enhancing and adding meaning into the Season of Giving.
Mr Klause was an initiative that was put forward by our own club members to donate and furnish some provisions to a couple of Foundling Homes for kids. Our President and Joint-Secretary themselves, Rtr. Basharath Isamath and Rtr. Tashya Wickramarachchi took the lead in the virtuous act along with the Chairpersons; Rtr. Ama Panchali, Rtr. Mahen Karunajeewa and myself looking into all the sub details which were necessary within the whole project. After some time with the help of the other members assigned to the project and with a pinch of luck, Sri Jinananda Children’s Home in Bambalapitiya and Mother Theresa’s Home in Moratuwa were available and designated for the contribution of the provisions.
It was on Boxing day that the heavy work commenced, a food drive was organized by putting out a poster of all the provisions which were necessary and of the essence sent to us by the mentioned Homes was shared on all of our club’s social media platforms giving people the chance to make their most valuable and highly appreciated contributions (with also opening for monetary donations as well). Rtr. Basharath’s house was made use of the drop off location during the entire event until the 29th of December, 2020 which was the day of our project; the day we were to distribute the contributions.
The chairpersons and a bunch of other members (Rtr. Sharan Balasubramaniam, Rtr. Aqeelah Basheer, Rtr. Ahamed Rahumathulla Rtr. Shalika Fernando and Rtr. Umar Shafeek) of the club were divided into two groups for delivering the provisional goods to the two respective Homes at Wellawatte and Moratuwa.
The number of provisions collected was on a whole different level and we couldn’t have been more grateful and indebted to each and every person who contributed; provisions or otherwise. Given the fact that we pulled it off in the middle of a worldwide crisis, it was an absolute rapture to see how people valued this devise and aided anyways.
And of course, how could we forget the smiles, smiles here and there, smiles of the kids, the people in charge and how appreciative they actually were. Over the moon, blissful, euphoric, would be ideal to describe the looks those little kids and their guardians had. The day ended giving all of us, a small flick to our hearts, making us feel proud of ourselves and what we came up with, in a humble manner with giving the sudden realization that this was what being a Rotaractor truly meant.
All in all, it was a good day. One that we would most certainly remember. A solid definition of what unforgettable and exceptional truly meant.
Rtr. Ashen Daniel.
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