Seylan Bank pledges support to SOS Children’s Villages Sri Lanka
Seylan Bank extended its support to the SOS Children’s Villages Sri Lanka (SOSCVSL) at an event held at the Village in Piliyandala recently.
The SOSCVSL which aims to help children who have lost parental care and who are at risk of losing parental care through their family like care and family strengthening programme, received a financial contribution of Rs.1 million along with internship opportunities from Seylan Bank for six competent youth, who were selected from across villages located in Sri Lanka.
Furthermore, the bank will significantly do its part to groom these children on financial literacy and social values, ensuring that these children are equipped with the right knowledge and skills to become a competitive workforce in the financial industry.
Commenting on the occasion, Seylan Bank PLC Retail Banking Deputy General Manager Tilan Wijeyesekera said: “We are privileged to pledge our support towards the SOS Children’s Villages in Sri Lanka. As a leading bank in the minor savings category, we have always been at the forefront of empowering children to fulfil their aspirations for over 30 years. We at Seylan Bank strongly believe that education is a tool that children can use to shape their future. As the bank with a heart, we will continue to support the SOS Children’s Villages with internship opportunities, thus ensuring that every child gets the opportunity to make a change tomorrow.”
Seylan Bank launched the fund collection programme as part of its seasonal campaign in December 2018 with an intention of collecting one million rupees. The bank donated a share for every transaction carried out by its debit and credit cardholders.
Speaking at the event, SOS Children’s Villages International President Siddhartha Kaul said: “Our focus at SOS Children’s Villages is to ensure that every child at our villages receives a secure future by providing them with the right education and soft skills. At least 200 vulnerable youth come to us each year and we provide them with educational and vocational opportunities to make them skilled citizens. Such contributions from Seylan Bank and other local corporate sectors enable us to fuel these aspirations further. During the past 37 years, SOSCVSL was mainly funded by international individual donors and other philanthropists in Europe. Since Sri Lanka is now classified as a middle income country in Asia, the umbrella organisation has implemented a gradual subsidy reduction. It is of paramount importance that SOSCVSL bridges this subsidy gap and the support of income from local individuals, well-wishers and local corporates really help us to continue our journey.”
SOSCVSL Human Resources Deputy General Manager Jayantha Amarasinghe said: “We are pleased to partner with the SOS Children’s Villages Sri Lanka in developing and empowering the Children of SOSCVL to find better employment opportunities in the market. Over the years, SOSCVSL had produced great leaders who are now at eminent organisations. As a responsible corporate citizen we will do our best to further facilitate the potential SOSCVSL thereby enriching the lives of the Children so that they can have a better life.”