The American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka [AmCham] recently donated their proceeds from the AMCHAM Ball and other activities held in 2017, to the Child Protection Society Boys Development Centre. The donation was used to fund structural refurbishment, purchasing of new computers and towards the education of the children at the Centre.
“AMCHAM Gives Back” is the Chamber’s CSR initiative, which was launched in 2014. Last year
the Chamber aimed to support over 700 school children in the Navithanvely, Ampara district. The project that was supported by AMCHAM addressed the issue of water in two schools under the Navithanvely ADP that were in need of safe access to water and sanitation facilities.
AMCHAM’s charity project has served a number of worthy causes since its launch. In 2014 it supported a Youth Awareness Project on Gender Based Violence initiated by the BSSI Trust Fund. They partnered with WHO, Care International and AMCHAM to facilitate the education of youth on the subject of abuse against women and encourage discourse on the topic in order to eradicate such abuse, advance gender equality and progressive thinking in our society through relevant activities and campaigns.
In 2015 and 2016, the initiative supported s the Glenanore School in the Haputale District, by uplifting the IT facilities within the school, enabling the children to opt for IT as a subject.
At this year’s 20th AMCHAM Ball, a new element was introduced to the Chamber’s CSR project – A Silent Auction. This initiative featured two items donated by two well-known Sri Lankan personalities – a painting by Marie Alles and an autographed cricket bat from Kumar Sangakkara. This was a huge success and drew in a donation of Rs. 160,000. This will be coupled with funds from AMCHAM’s CSR project to support yet another worthy cause this year.