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COLOMBO: Helplanka, a UK-registered charity, gifted a children’s playground at Seemawelliye Puttalam NWP recently. The funds were raised by students with Sri Lankan roots from both the UK and the USA.
The event was organized and spearheaded by Sam Goonetillake, Helplanka’s Founder, who also attended the opening ceremony in Puttalam recently.
The children’s playground was inaugurated and declared open by Chinthaka Mayadunne MP for Puttalam, Nalaka De Silva DIG and local council and religious members.
The playground has been dedicated in memory of the late Sonney Goonetillake, (Sam Goonetillake’s Father), who passed away recently and is named Sunny Place.
Helplanka’s projects this year included outreach community work in cooperation with Dimuthu Foundation at Kakkapalliya, Tree planting, teaching English and sports at Marawila, programmes for Deaf and Blind children at Mahawewa and activity programmes for children in villages in Puttalam.
The opening ceremony of the playground was made possible by efforts and support of a team of students from the International Airline and Aviation College Colombo led by Keerthi Peiris.
Helplanka is committed to extending support to children of all faiths and communities, especially in the North Western Province, where poverty is acute and has announced the launch of a new Project, to be unveiled in 2024, of providing a mobile book and toy library to serve rural communities across Sri Lanka.
Since its inception in 2005, Helplanka has been supporting vulnerable children across Sri Lanka, through education. The charity has been funding scholarships, providing training, essential supplies of food and medicines as well as successfully running a School Twinning and UK Volunteer Programme.
Commenting on the opening of the playground and reading a message of support from UK Prime Minister, The Right Hon Rishi Sunak MP, Sam Goonetillake said “I applaud the sterling efforts of this year’s Helplanka group for their amazing work in Sri Lanka and I hope we can find the funds and resources to provide such services including the mobile library in the future. “
