COLOMBO-August 8, 2022: United Kingdom’s popular restaurant ‘Hoppers’, partnered Hemas Outreach Foundation to provide nutrition packs to children in Piyawara Preschools to combat malnutrition in the formative years of early childhood development.
The ongoing economic crisis has affected many children and families in vulnerable communities leading to malnutrition and starvation across the country. In an effort to address this issue, ‘Hoppers’ collaborated with the Hemas Outreach Foundation to meet the nutritional needs of the children at the Piyawara Preschools through their ‘Feeding the Future’ initiative.
The ‘Feeding the Future’ project, with the assistance of the Early Childhood and Care Development (ECCD) Officers around the island, will provide nutrition packs valued at £25 to 367 families from 15 of the worst-affected Piyawara preschools in Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Monaragala, Mannar and Ampara.
The short-term aim of the ‘Feeding the Future’ project is to provide essential nutrition to the preschool children to ensure their development needs are met. This will also motivate the families to ensure their children attend the preschool regularly for their early learning. In the longer term, once the crisis at hand has abated the project plans to focus on other needs.
Commenting on the partnership Shiromi Masakorala, Executive Director, Hemas Outreach Foundation / AYATI Trust Sri Lanka said: “Malnourishment has always been a major problem for children in vulnerable communities in Sri Lanka, and we hope through this project we will be able to combat this in communities that are affected the most by the present crisis. Hemas Outreach Foundation has always been at the forefront in enriching the lives of the underprivileged children in Sri Lanka through early childhood care and development. We are honoured to have Hoppers London join hands with us to help the children of our Piyawara preschools by ensuring they receive the needed nutrition during these challenging times.‘’
Hemas Outreach Foundation (HOF) is a charitable trust established in Sri Lanka in 2002 with the aim of creating an inclusive world where no child is left behind. Our goal is to provide world-class pre-school education to disadvantaged children across the island, as well as to improve the lives of differently abled children through high-quality therapeutic intervention and the eradication of stigma related to disability. HOF’s mission is “to enrich the lives of underprivileged children in Sri Lanka through early childhood care and development (ECCD)”. So far, the Hemas Outreach Foundation has had an impact on the lives of over 70,000 children and families of all ethnicities across the country. Piyawara (Preschool Project), AYATI (National Centre for Children with Disabilities), and Eka Se Salakamu (Focusing on children with Down Syndrome) are some of the key projects of HOF.