As the new school year started, it also means that the new service year has started and I have many plans for this year (CAS posts will be coming soon). I am one of the service leaders alongside Dimath and Anneli the other 2 leaders. Since this was my first year as a service leader I was quite excited as I had to plan our service sessions and develop new ideas to raise money and organizations to partner with. For the last few years, we have partnered with the CCC house in Maharagama, which is a house for cancer patients who come from rural parts of Sri Lanka to Colombo for treatment, although last year we decided to partner with the Indira Cancer Trust Fund. The Indira Cancer Trust Fund is a cancer organization that helps cancer patients similar to the CCC house but they also host a variety of fundraising events for the cancer community in Sri Lanka.
The first plan for our service session was coming up with new ideas for the current 2024/2025 year and the different events we can do. The different ideas we came up with were all put on a Google document and we then decided to assign roles to each service member and also make an agenda document where we make a list of goals to complete and discuss for each session. We had decided to focus on spreading awareness this year as a goal for our service as we hadn’t done that as much last year.
After our first service session in the following weeks, we visited the CCC house and spoke with the manager about their needs. She mentioned that they required a sheltered area for a classroom for the kids, as well as kurakkan flour and other dry ration items. We took note of these needs and discussed them in our service sessions. We decided to reach out to the Housing and Habitat service group for assistance, and they agreed to help us. We will follow up with them in our future service sessions.
Additionally, we decided to create “Hope For Kids” tote bags and t-shirts by partnering with Gecko Gear, another service at OSC. The proceeds from these items will be used to fund our annual donation drives for the CCC house, including a dry ration drive and a bed linen drive, while also spreading awareness about our cause. We also made infographics and created an OSC Instagram page for our service, which you can check out here. We will regularly update you with various posts about upcoming events and facts about cancer. You can also view the infographics we made here.
In October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we encouraged the entire OSC community to wear pink on Breast Cancer Awareness Day to promote awareness. We also hosted a successful breast cancer awareness program featuring speakers from the Indira Cancer Trust Fund, who provided valuable information about breast cancer and its detection. Many people attended, including staff members. Towards the end of the event, we were proud to present a generous donation of Rs. 50,000 to the Indira Cancer Trust from the Hope for Kids team. This donation will help support ongoing care and assistance for those battling breast cancer, aligning perfectly with our mission to make a meaningful impact in the lives of those affected by this disease. The main objective of the Indira Cancer Trust was to raise awareness about breast health within our community. By the end of the day, it was clear how deeply the message resonated with those who attended. We look forward to collaborating with them more this year. Overall, I believe this session was a huge success, as it provided valuable insight into the severity of breast cancer.
For our future events, we are planning our annual cricket match, which the OSC community loves, and our Christmas/ New Year donation drives to the CCC house.
