ANNUAL EVENTS
24th Annual Arobanam Charity Dinner
Join us to celebrate our 24th year of success in supporting destitute children in Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka, including those who have now been displaced to Southern India. The evening will consist of a tasty traditional meal and entertainment, as well as an update on our work over the past year. As always we will be conducting the American auction so please bring those pound coins! We look forward to welcoming you on the evening.
The ACF team
ACF 23rd Annual Charity Dinner – July 2018
Arobanam Children Fund 23rd Annual Charity Dinner was held on the Saturday 7th July 2018 at the Manor Park Hall, Malden Road, New Malden, Surrey, KT3 6AU. For further details please review the ACF 23nd Annual Event brochure.
ACF 22nd Annual Charity Dinner – April 2017
Arobanam Children Fund 22nd Annual Charity Dinner was held on the Saturday 22nd April 2017 at the Manor Park Hall, Malden Road, New Malden, Surrey, KT3 6AU. For further details please review the ACF 22nd Annual Event brochure (Click Here).
ACF 21st Annual Event – March 2016
Arobanam Children Fund 21st Annual Charity Dinner was held on the 12th March 2016 at the Southborough High School, Hook Road, Surbiton, Surrey, KT6 5AS . For further details please review the ACF 21st Annual Event brochure (Click Here).
ACF 20th Annual Event – “20 Year Journey Update” 2015
Dear Well Wishers,
We are delighted to inform you that our 2015 brochure; “20 Year Journey Update”, issued during our 20thAnniversary Charity Dinner event on 28th February 2015, can be viewed on the link below.
Our patron, Rev. Fr James Pathinathan graced this very special occasion together with Arobanam Children Fund’s members and supporters.
In his keynote speech our patron stated that although Sri Lanka has undergone many constructional developments in recent times and given itself a “facelift” (whilst giving the impression that all is well in country and its people), it should not deflect us from the important task that still remains: caring for the basic needs of the parentless children. He appealed to the UK community to help close the shortfall in sponsors by taking on new sponsorships.
Please take a few minutes to scan the pages of our **latest brochure** to find out how far we have progressed with caring for our ACF children & young people, our work with current projects, our reports on urgent appeals and special fundraising ventures, since the founding of ACF.
Your contribution and support has so far enabled us to achieve the following:
- Invest approximately £1.5 million to support the children’s needs
- Assist 642 children with their day-to-day needs (including 7 day care centres with 142 infants)
- Produce 28 university graduates (including a lawyer)
- Produce a successful singer/musician (released her first CD in Sri Lanka in 2014)
- Assist 14 university students on courses (including Engineering and Management Degrees)
- Set up building projects to renovate children’s homes in need of urgent repair
- Distribute bicycles to provide urgent transport to school
- Provide milk, on a daily basis, for children under 12 years at Mahadeva Ashram in Kilinochchi
- Set up emergency relief appeals, such as Tsunami 2004, food parcel distributions in 2009, flood disaster to name a few.
Please remember that there are currently 232 children being sponsored through contingency funds. In the long-term this is not sustainable, so we are in urgent need of sponsors for these children.
FUNDRAISING EVENTS
2021 – Midnight Sun Marathon
ACF would like to thank the three participants who took part and donated for making the midnight Marathon success and have raised way beyond our target thank you again for all you’re support
Three supporters of Arobanam Children Fund (ACF), living in Norway have come forward to run the Tromsø – Norway’s midnight Sun Marathon
on Saturday 19th June 2021 in support of the charity.
Velmurugu Puvanendran , Erik Burgerhout, Kugan Velayutham aim to break their current records of 2:00:43., 2:05:43 and 1:54:49 respectively where the allotted time is 3 hours and 30 minutes.
ACF is in the process of launching new initiatives such as assisting children from hill countries, supporting with home gardening ,setting up of games room. Any funds raised will be used for these initiatives and current needs.
I am creating this fundraiser on behalf of the three marathon runners as a faculty member of ACF.
photo credits go to Midnight Sun Marathon Norway and the participants
https://www.msm.no/en/arrangement/midnight-sun-marathon/
Total raised plus Gift Aid: £3,528.00!
Thank you!
2019 – London Marathon 28th April 2019 – Christena Shivashanker
Hello all,
I completed the London Marathon 28th April 2019 – it took me a painstaking 5 hours and 51 minutes! My target time was 4 hours 30mins to 5 hours but at mile 19 I injured my knee and this slowed me down massively. I had to visit first aid every mile after that so they could check my knee and treat it temporarily. But the support from those you came to cheer me on and thinking of the money I raised for ACF made me keep going and push through the pain.
Total raised plus Gift Aid: £4,793.94!
Thank you,
Tina X
2017 – The Mission: Wing walking
Our very own daredevil! Mr Joseph Jeyakumar, a founder member and long term ACF supporter & dear friend took on a very brave and unique fundraising challenge in a bid to raise much needed funds for our charity. The Mission: Wing walking – he was mounted on the wing of a 1940’s Boeing Stearman Biplane for a flight at 135mph with a zoom climb to 500ft and with several fly past manoeuvres before landing.The mission was completed on the Saturday 19th August 2017
2016 – The London Marathon
We are delighted to report that Myooressh Maheswaran successfully completed the Virgin Money London Marathon on Sunday 24th April 2016 in aid of ACF. We extend our congratulations to Myooressh for this amazing achievement and for his outstanding efforts in raising nearly £8,000 for our charity! His fundraising will make a huge difference to the children we assist and will also inspire them to achieve their own goals.
2015 – Summer Fun Day
ACF’s Summer Fun Day on Saturday 22nd August at Morden Park, Surrey was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by all!It was a beautiful hot and sunny day, jam packed with fun activities with children jumping on the bouncy castle, having their faces painted from jungle animals to superheroes and of course, enjoying an ice cream or two!
One of the many highlights included a special appearance by Peppa pig and Stuart from the Minions, with the young and old alike revelling in meeting them and taking a selfie! With plenty of food on offer from BBQ chicken and burgers to cakes and candy floss (for those with a sweet tooth!), the only thing left to do was relax and have a massage. Our raffle draw brought the day to an end and several lucky winners went home with some fantastic prizes. A HUGE thank you to everyone who came & all our helpers and supporters who made it a memorable and entertaining day.
2011 – Dragon Boat Race Event
A massive thank you to all who took part in our charity fundraiser on 16th July 2011 at the London Regatta Centre. Unfortunately, due to the bad weather conditions we were unable to raise enough funds during our event. Hopefully next year we will have better luck! The free event saw 11 teams compete throughout the afternoon while entertainment on dry land included a BBQ, bouncy castle, kid’s activities, henna stall, massage stall, face painting and threading stalls.
Although it was a rather ‘wet’ day, despite all the teams best efforts, no one could beat ’Paddle Power’ who stormed down the Thames in just over 1 minute, although the runners up were simply seconds away. Dragon boat racing is one of the fastest growing and most exciting water sports you can take part in. With less than a year to practice, please come and join us next year for more splashing fun along the Thames.
2010 – Summer Fun Day
On Saturday 24th July 2010 we held our 1st Summer Fun Day. Attractions included a white elephant stall, massage stall, face painting, children’s bouncy slide, coconut shy, tug of war and grand raffle draw, youth’s competition matches and children’s fun races. It was great day for all and ACF raised money for the Internally Displaced People of Sri Lanka.
2007 – Treasure Island
Entering our third year of fundraising, ACF-YW wanted to ensure that crowds were drawn in.Deep in the depths of the River Thames, ACF-YW found a small but beautiful island fit to accommodate 200 people. Themed as Treasure Island, the evening was filled with a variety of hidden treasures, a luck dip, and a raffle with 10 fantastic donated prizes including a trip to Malta. Another hugely successful night for ACF-YW, raising over £2000. The proceeds from this event benefitted the internally displaced people (IDP) of Sri Lanka.
2007 – Sky Dive
Our youngest Youth Wing member Christina found the courage to do a Tandem Skydive in October 2007. She raised awareness of our cause amongst young people in her age group whilst raising over £2000! It was a brave effort indeed.
2006 – Walk the Red
Ensuing the triumph of the first event, ACF-YW was keen to complete their second event. Targeting a slightly younger audience an unknown challenge lay ahead. With the event name of Walk the Red, guests were invited to dress up as their favourite celebrities. Finally the star studded night arrived and in a secluded bar in east London, Alicia Keys and Audrey Hepburn danced the night away. The Moulin Rouge girls won best female costume while Ronaldinhio danced away with best male. Another tremendous night, which raised a further £1,000 for ACF-UK.
2005 – A Drop of Hope
In 2005, the ACF-YW presented their first fundraising event, A Drop of Hope. Located in the heart of the King Henry VIII’s realm, the Lion Gate Hotel drew in over 250 guests. The debut dinner and dance event was extremely successful and raised over £3,000.00. Great raffle prizes were won and a Michael Jackson signed record was auctioned for £500. Following great review and positive feedback, ACF-YW became established and is among reputable fundraisers in the Sri Lankan youth community.