03 Asia Pacific Awards for Negombo Round Table 7

At the recently held Round Table Asia Pacific (ASPA) Awards Ceremony, Negombo Round Table 7(NRT7) which was led by its Chairman Tr. Nuwan Siyambalapitiya was adjudged as “Best Table of the year”, “Best Service Project of the year” in recognition of their contributions during the Tabling year 2019/20 and further contributions of its Charter Chairman Tr. Randhike Cooray was recognised with a “Star Award” at the Ceremony.

Amidst many unprecedented challenges across the year from Easter Sunday Attacks to COVID 19, Negombo Round Table 7 commenced the year after a brainstorming session to have an agreed set of actions/events to carry out during the year, with a strategic plan developed around the key aims and objectives in Tabling. They carried out a Beach Clean-up Community Service Project at Uswetakeiyawa as their 1st project of the year jointly with Colombo Change Makers Round Table 9, which is the youngest Table in the country, followed by a joint meeting and a fellowship. 

During the Tabling year they further carried out 4 stand-alone community service projects, under the “Help Schools Service Initiative”; whereby they donated over 2,000 school bags, books, stationeries, uniforms, shoes, socks, band equipment’s, IT labs to different parts of the country for the under privileged students/schools. Development of individual competencies and talents are a significant aspect of a child’s growth. Therefore, at each school where contributions were made, a Talent show was organized with students with potential to demonstrate their capabilities. In addition, they have carried out Career Guidance programmes for the children at such rural locations, which is paramount for their development. 

Help Schools Foundation has been established and managed by the members of Negombo Round Table 7 without any administration fee whatsoever, to ensure that all funds received by the donors will be completely utilised towards the beneficiaries. They operate a webpage www.helpschools.lk, which is a fully integrated web page to connect donors and beneficiaries. This service initiative has been recognised as the Best Service Project of the year in 2018/19 in Round Table Asia Pacific Awards Ceremony.

NRT7 Tablers are a group of professionals from diverse professional fields of Banking, Finance, Engineering, Legal, Logistics and Tourism and these professionals have immensely supported the Round Table Sri Lanka community at a larger scale by providing valuable Professional advice and consultancy services.

The project “Feed the Poor” which is one of the best joint community service projects initiated in recent Sri Lankan Tabling history, lunched by Negombo Round Table 7 jointly with Colombo Tuskers Round Table 8 during the locked down period due to the COVID 19 outbreak. Under the project, they have served more than 2,500 families of daily income or low-income earners who have been severely affected due to lock down, in the Districts of Gampaha, Badulla, Jaffna, Hambantota, Kalutara, Anuradhapura and Colombo by distributing dry rations and vegetables packs worth more than Rs. 2,500/- each. Funds for this joint project were raised with the assistance of Donors ranging from local and foreign Tablers, 41ers, Circlers and Tangents. This mammoth task has been recognised as the Best Community Service Project during 2019/20, at the ASPA Round Table Awards Ceremony.  

Their signature fellowship event and the fundraiser for Help Schools Project, “Sing-a-long & Calypso Night” concluded with grandeur with the highest number of participation from active Tablers, which is the highest number of turn-up from Tablers, Circlers, 41ers and Tangents for an event organised by a Table as it was the most entertaining event of the calendar year. 

After allowing some time to recover for the 53 Easter Sunday Bomb victims at Negombo/Katuwapitiya church, whom lost their breadwinners, NRT7 has taken the leadership with an initiative to launch a community service activity in order to establish a sustainable revenue stream by establishing their own business ventures. With the support of several international Donors/Tablers, Round Table Sri Lanka has allocated a sum of Rs. 3.2Mn for this effort.