Annual Reprt 2022
The name of this corporation is Ananda College Old Boys Association of West Coat, USA. The name of the corporation may be abbreviated ACOBA – West Coast.
PURPOSES
This corporation has been formed for charitable purposes, to
- Support primarily the educational goals of Ananda College, Colombo, Sri Lanka (“College”) and, if funds permit, other educational projects in Sri Lanka and USA.
- Work with Ananda College Old Boys Association in Sri Lanka and the Ananda College administration to determine educational projects of Ananda College including, but not limited to, scholarships, books, educational materials and supplies, and educational facilities the corporation can assist in.
- Facilitate fellowship among Anandians (former students and teachers of Ananda College) living outside Sri Lanka and in particular in the west coast of USA as the unity and cohesion among them would in turn facilitate the corporation’s main objective of assisting educational needs of the College.
In addition, this corporation is formed for the purposes of performing all things incidental to, or appropriate in, the achievement of the foregoing specific and primary purposes. However, the corporation shall not engage in any activities or exercise any powers that are not in furtherance of its primary charitable purposes. This corporation shall hold and may exercise all such powers as may be conferred upon a nonprofit corporation by the laws of the State of California and as may be necessary or expedient for the administration of the affairs and attainment of the purposes of the corporation. In no event shall the corporation engage in activities which are not permitted to be carried on by a corporation exempt under Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Record of activities of the ACOBA-WC for the period from January 16th, 2022, to January 29th,2023 are as follows:
Office Bearers for the Year 2022
Board of Directors
Hon. Chairman- Dr. Nalaka Gunawardena
Hon. Corporate Secretary- Shantha Suraweera
Hon. Chief Financial Officer- Rakshita Dissanayake
Hon. Member- Dr. Deepthi Jayasekara
Hon. Member- Dr. Lasika Seneviratne
Executive Committee
Hon. President- Col Lucky Rajasinghe (Rtd)
Hon. Vice President/President Elect- Dilash De Silva
Hon. Immediate Past President- Rakshita Dissanayake
Hon. General Secretary- Squadron Leader Rahim Mantara (Rtd)
Hon. Treasurer- Samantha Arambegedara
Hon. Assistant Treasurer- Nalin Kulasooriya
Hon. Assistant Secretary- Wing Commander Sanath Senaratne (Rtd)
Hon. Assistant Secretary- Sports- Major Chaminda Dabare (Rtd)
Hon. Asst. Secretary- Member Development- Sanje Sedara
Committee Members
Dr. Stanley Wijesekera Jeevaka Weerasinghe
Dr. Gamini Gunawardana Methinda Jayawardana
Brigadier Ganesh Perusinghe (Rtd) Dr. Wije Wathugala
Thilanjan Vithana Dr. Saroj Weeraratne
Ananda Mahinkanda Chatura Hewavitharana
Asela Wickremasinghe Gamini Weeratunge
Sanjeeva Weerasinghe Palitha Palpola
Pradeep Gunaratne
Board And Committee Meetings
Annual General Meeting- January 16th, 2022. (Virtual)
EXCO & Board Meeting – February 27th (Virtual)
June 5th (Virtual)
July 3rd (Virtual)
October 9th (Virtual)
Board Members Meeting- June 9th (Virtual)
Additional meetings were held by the EXCO members to discuss details in planning of all the events held in 2022.
Community Activities
Ananda College Book Donation Program – 2022
The Program was initiated by the Old Boys Association in Sri Lanka and was jointly funded by the ACOBA of West Coast and the East Coast of USA. Funds were collected through donations by members. A selected number of needy students of all grades were provided with school supplies, a pair of shoes and a backpack.
Donations for the school year 2022 were received in March (delayed start of the school year due to Covid. Cost per student was US$20. We donated SLR 500,000.00 enough for 70 students.
Ananda College Book Donation Program – 2023
Donations for the school year 2023 were collected in December 2022 (school year scheduled to start in February,2023)
Cost per student in December was US$30. We donated SLR 1,000,000.00 enough for 100 students.
Donation for Senura Silva – Table Tennis National Champion from Ananda College
Our members donated $ 2200 for Senura Silva (16-year-old Anandian) who was the national champion in Sri Lanka in table tennis. This was the funds required for his board and lodging when he was invited to train with some members of the US table tennis team under coach Samson Dubina.
Donations were made by Dr. Deepthi Jayasekera, Dr. Lasika Seneviratne, Col. Lucky Rajasinghe (Rtd), Dilash De Silva, Rahim Mantara, Dr. Stanley Wijesekera, Dr. Wije Wathugala, Manjula Vithana, Methinda Jayawardana, Ananda Mahinkanda, Dr. Saroj Weeraratne, Pasan Lanerolle and Pradeep Gunaratne.
Dr. Sri Welaratna Scholarship Program
The Dr. Sri Welaratna Scholarship Program is awarded annually at Ananda College for Merit Base Performance for all grades, funded by the interest from a fixed deposit in Peoples Bank of Sri Lanka.
The 85 group of OBA is locally managing the scholarship program together with ACOBA-WC.
The interest earned through the fix deposit for 2022 was sufficient to provide scholarships for only 24 students for Merit Base Scholarships and best O/L results. As such the EXCO initiated a program to promote individual members to donate scholarships. These scholarships were awarded by recognizing the name of the individual donor, the family, or in memory of a loved one of the donor’s choice. We were successful in adding 36 more scholarships for Merit Base through this Program. The cost of each scholarship was US$ 120.00. The total number of Merit Base Scholarships awarded were 60.
Scholarships were donated by Shantha Suraweera, Rakshita Dissanayake, Dr. Deepthi Jayasekera, Dr. Lasika Seneviratne, Col. Lucky Rajasinghe (Rtd), Dilash De Silva, Rahim Mantara, Dr. Stanley Wijesekera, Pradeep Gunaratne, Dr. Wije Wathugala, Rohan Thangaratnam, Ananda Mahinkanda, Dr. Saroj Weeraratne, Samantha Arambegedara, and Malraj De Silva.
The EXCO also introduced a Need Base Scholarship Program to support Anandians who needed financial assistance whilst in school. The students were nominated by a panel in Sri Lanka and we arranged to fund them with SLR 5000 a month for 12 months. Cost per student was US$180.
We awarded 10 Need Base Scholarships in 2022. Donations for the program were made by Dr. Lasika Seneviratne, Dr. Nalaka Gunawardena, and Sam Wijesekera. Funds from ACOBA-WC were used for 3 of the 10 scholarships.
The presentation ceremony was held on September 26th at the Kularatne Hall amidst a large gathering.
Ananda Mahinkanda presented a detail description of how the ceremony was presented and participation etc. It was also discussed how to build prominence of the members who contributed for individual scholarships both academic and need base. Ananda also mentioned the request made by the local organizers to look into the possibility of increasing the payments for both types of scholarships.
The EXCO will also make proposals to identify the event under a different heading as scholarships are donated by individual members too in addition to Dr. Sri Welaratna.
Annual Picnic
Our annual picnic was held on September 11th, at the Irvine regional park. About 75 of us participated at the event. We were well supported by our spouses and friends. There was ample food and beverages to go around and multiple desserts to choose from.
The organizing committee consisted of Col. Lucky Rajasinghe, Brigadier Ganesh Perusinghe, Rahim Mantara, Dilash De Silva, Rakshita Dissanayake, Shantha Suraweera, Major Chaminda Dabare and Manjula Vithana.
We also wish to thank all those members and their families who participated and contributed food, beverages and cash donations.
Founders’ Day- Weekend of Mindfulness- November 20th and 21st
The event was jointly organized by the Anandians and Nalandians of the US West Coast. The virtual program was held on both days (November 20th and 21st) from 7.00 am to 11:30 am and was conducted by venerable Dr. Wattegama Subhavi Thero.
We had approximately 87 participants on each day, most of whom were from Sri Lanka.
The moderators for the event were Dr. Wije Wathugala and Ananda Mahinkanda. The vote of thanks was presented by Nalin Samaratunge (President NACOBA).
The organizing team for the event comprised Col. Lucky Rajasinghe (Rtd), Dr. Wije Wathugala, Ananda Mahinkanda, Nalin Samaratunge (President NACOBA), and Rahim Mantara.
The ACOBA and NACOBA jointly donated $1500.00 to Dr. Wattegama Subhavi Thero.The Primary contribution of $500 for ACOBA was made by Dr. Deepthi Jayasekera. Col. Lucky Rajasinghe (Rtd), Dr. Wije Wathugala, Ananda Mahinkanda, Dr. Stanley Wijesekara, and Dr. Nalaka Gunawardena made additional donations totaling up to $500.
Contributions made by Col. Lucky Rajasinghe (Rtd), Dr. Wije Wathugala and Ananda Mahinkanda in coordinating the presentation of the event on both days including Zoom controls is highly appreciated.
Battle of the Maroons cricket encounter-November 27th,2022
The event was held at the Woodley Park in Los Angeles on Sunday November 27th from 10:30 am onwards. It was the turn of Ananda College to organize the event with the assistance of the Nalanda team. The event was well organized with about 100 guests. The game was on live telecast via Batman.com. Live music was also arranged. Nalanda College were the winners.
We highly appreciate the dedication and enthusiasm of Manjula Vithana, Vice President Dilash De Silva, Chaminda Dabare (Asst. Secretary-Sports), Jeevaka Weerasinghe, Sanjeeva Weerasinghe and the Chairman of the Board Nalaka Gunawardena in making the event a success.
The total expenses for the event were evenly shared between two colleges.
Donations were made by Col. Lucky Rajasinghe, Rahim Mantara, Dr. Nalaka Gunawardena, Dilash De Silva, Air Commodore Ranjith Yapa (Rtd), Manjula Vithana, Sanjeeva Weerasinghe, Jeevaka Weerasinghe and Chandana Wijeratne. The sole caterer for the event- Pramil Jayasinghe, donated lunch for both teams and officials. The match was followed by a limited over game between two ladies’ teams.
Match Summary
Nalanda College-163/9 (19.5/20 overs) Ananda College- 156/7 (20/20 overs)
Nalanda College won by 7 runs.
Chief Guest: Mr. Neil Kulatunge
Guest of Honor: Mr. Arjuna Ranatunge
These members were awarded trophies for outstanding performance.
Best Batsman and: Nirudhaka Dushmantha- Nalanda College
Best Bowler and MVP: Kavindu Dhanapala- Nalanda College
Best Fielder: Manjula Vithana – Ananda
Winners: Nalanda College
ACOBA-WC – Summary of Bank Balances. ( As of December 31st,2022)
To be presented by the Treasurer.
Other recognizable activities of ACOBA-WC members
Dr. Deepthi Jayasekera was presented the Outstanding Community Service Award for his excellence as an infectious disease specialist in Covid guidelines, vaccines, therapeutics and community service at the Sri Lanka Foundation Award Ceremony held on November 13th, 2022 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.
Appreciations:
We sincerely appreciate:
- The Board of Directors for their continued oversight of the Organization.
- The outstanding support, dedication and commitment extended to the organization by Col. Lucky Rajasinghe in planning and coordinating all the Zoom Meetings and guiding the teams in every stage of planning.
- All the Donors who generously contributed to achieve our financial goals in all our funding events.
- The consistent support extended by Samantha Arambegedara in maintaining the funds as treasurer and preparing the Annual Tax Returns ACOBA-WC for the past few years.
Prepared By Report Approved:
Rahim Mantara Proposed by:
General Secretary-ACOBA-WC Seconded by: