Northcote United Cricket Club Visit

The Northcote United Cricket Club under the guidance of Mr. David Talalla have worked with the Foundation of Goodness during two of their community aid sports tours to Sri Lanka in previous years. In 2017, they returned for the 3rd time with a slightly different programme in mind.

During previous visits the team had always joined us in Seenigama as part of their tour to play friendly matches at the Seenigama Sports Academy and conduct community aid activities there. This year however, with the Foundation of Goodness’ expanding reach, they were able to visit the northern region of the island for a completely different experience.

On the 30th of June, the team arrived in Jaffna after spending time in Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Dambulla and after resting, they were up and ready for a day of community work and interaction on Saturday the 1st of July.

Their first stop for the day was at the FoG Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centre in Mathagal, Jaffna where a large group of children who attend classes at the Centre were gathered in anticipation of meeting the visitors.

The cricketers formed groups with the Mathagal kids where they played games, did some fun English activities and got to know each other better. After spending time at the Village Heartbeat Centre the team then visited the Valvagam Special Needs Home for auditory and visually challenged children. The group donated groceries, clothes and sports equipment to the home and then played a game of blind cricket with the kids, which was a touching and heartwarming experience for everyone.

On the 2nd of July the visiting team members and their parents enjoyed a day of cricket and netball with the Jaffna Combined Cricket Team and St. Patrick's College netball players.

The group also raised funds prior to the visit and collected a large number of items for donations made up of 13 cricket bags and 35 boxes filled with sports equipment (helmets, batting pads, wicket keeping pads, thigh pads, abdominal guards, netballs, batting gloves, balls, clothing, shoes and school bags) which were handed over to the Foundation of Goodness to uplift the lives of rural communities.

A big thank you goes out to the Northcote United Cricket Club for taking the time to join us for such worthy humanitarian activities.

27th July 2017