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Special Acknowledgement - Christmas Party 2005

This is to appreciate the support we received from all of you to make the Christmas Party a very successful one. The participation of this event is much more than we expected and the positive feedback we received is very encouraging. We had planned to do a 'Vote of Thanks' at the end of the event but decided against it as we did not want to disturb the dancing, especially as people were really enjoying the last few minutes that were left.

First of all, we thank all the members and guests for your presence and bringing about the spirit of Christmas. The hall packed to full capacity gave everyone a live feeling, and for us a feeling of success and great satisfaction that it brought the community together.

Next, our sincere thanks are to the organizing committee of the event who were the main driving force behind the event. They are: Nalin Imbulgoda (Co-ordinator), Sherene and Asoka Wikramanayake, Kanthi Dias, Patrick and Marian Silva, Sohan Dias, Devika Gunawardena, Dharshani Amarakoon, Carmeline Amarasekara, Deepani Waidyarathna, Mahesh De Silva, Rohan Basnayake, Padmini Hapuarachchi, Damithri Silva and all the executive committee members.

They were instrumental in identifying and planning all aspects of the event starting from reserving the hall to food, decorations, music ticket sales, purchasing supplies etc. They took up various responsibilities, getting more volunteers to help and ensured the timely implementation of the plan. Special thanks to Nalin as the co-ordinator and keeping track of various aspects of the event. It is with pleasure we note that the organizing committee kept up to the custom of the Sri Lanka Canada Association, by starting the event right on time. Some intermediate events were shifted a little bit but the smooth functioning of the event was maintained.

Next, we like to thank all the other volunteers who were not in the organizing committee but who supported the evenings' activities in numerous ways and were equally responsible for bringing it to a success. We greatly appreciate your hard work and helping in this event without any reservation. To remember and appreciate your hard work, a separate list of the main items and people who took care of them is attached at the end of this e-mail.

Finally, we thank Ottawa's very own Sri Lankan music group "Lankan Breeze' for providing live music, our DJ Sanjeewa Muthumudali for coming forward to help us and our MC, Asoka Wickrmanayake for making it a wonderful evening.

We kindly request you to take a few moments to fill the web-based feedback form from Xmas party URL - http://slkaraoke.dnsalias.com/xmas/ or directly from http:// slkaraoke.dnsalias.com /xmas/sinlearn/caslfdbk.asp This will help us to focus on some of the things we have overlooked, the areas we can improve, and the things we are doing right.

Again, we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to prepare for this splendid evening.

We wish you all a merry Christmas and happy New Year!

----SLCAO Executive Committee

Attachment:

In appreciation of the people who worked tirelessly behind the seen, we list here several main items in the program and the people involved in making them a success. Obviously this is in no way an exhaustive list and please do note that all the activities whether they are listed here or not, were crucial to our success and are much appreciated. Our sincere apologies for any omission.

(1) Decorations:

Hall: As you all have witnessed, the hall decked with beautiful Christmas decorations provided a lively atmosphere and feeling of Christmas that evening. We are thankful to Patrick Silva who was in-charge of overall decorations, for the wonderful Crib which reminded one and all the reason for the celebration, the birth of Jesus Christ. Jeewa Samarasooriya did a wonderful job in decking the walls with Christmas wreaths handmade by herself. Mr. Nihal Wijay for taking care of all table arrangements.

Tables: As you have witnessed the tables were decorated with special home made low cost art work. This was done by Deepani Waidyaratne.

Christmas Tree: Anyone who entered the hall could not have missed the eye catching, beautifully decorated Christmas tree which was done by Vajira and Jeewa.

(2) Transportation: Janaka (in charge), Nimal de Silva and Mahesh de Silva and Lakmal; took care of transportation of sound equipment, packing unpacking of the same and transportation of the hall decoration items on time.

(3) Dinner: As you have witnessed dinner was a sumptuous one complete with 14 menu items. From menu selection, taking quotations from different restaurants until the delivery as well as serving were looked after by Shereen (in Charge), and Sarath Amarakoon.. We would like to thank Kanthi, Ruthie, Kumudini, Siriya, Thilini, Shani, Mercy, Ramya, Marian, Ruwani, Anoma, Deepani and others who volunteered to serve at the buffet tables.

(4) Bar: We are pleased to inform that the bar had record sales. We lowered the price of liquor as an experiment, which may have contributed to this. We are confident that we can continue with these reduced rates in the future. The team responsible were: Susantha (in Charge) Rohan Basnayake, Sohan Dias, Victor Amarasekara, Duleep Mahanama, Mahesh De Silva, Oliver Fernando and Channa Weerawanni.

(5) Master of Ceromonies: We are thankful to Asoka Wikramanayake who did an excellent job using effective tactics and humor to get the attention of the crowd. With a large number of activities planned for the evening it was a very difficult task well handled by Asoka. We thank you Asoka for taking up this difficult task.

(6) Music Group: We would like to thank Ottawa's very own Sri Lankan music group "Lankan Breeze' for coming forward to support us and enriching the atmosphere with live music. We had to cut down the time given to them due to lengthened raffle draw but the group took the task up quickly providing music with fast rhythms for dancing. The group members who participated in the event are: Lakshman Dias, Nimal De Silva, Asanga Weerapura, Aruna Kaluthanthri, Tilak Waidyarathna, Sumudu Fonseka and Ruwan Warnapura. In addition, Anthony Fernando and Kumuduni Nicholas for providing vocal support.

(7) DJ: Sanjeewa Muthumudali,This time we selected a mix of DJ and live music to give the people a taste of both. The DJ did a wonderful job by taking the dancers to a climax at the end. We apologize for the short time provided which was shorter than planned.

(8) Children's Christmas Songs: This was one of the main events and a successful one. Organized by Darshani and Devika: The participation of small children made the evening an enjoyable one for the parents as well as other guests. We thank these children for making it a very colorful event. Special thanks are due to their parents for bringing their children to several practice sessions and closely supervising their performances.

(9) Youth Drama: This was an item where we attempted to give youth a free hand in coming up with their own creation. Identifying that they did not have much time to practice a drama, they came up with a novel idea of a drama where story telling and symbolic acting were used in combination. It was nice to see at least a few teenagers participate in such activities, as parents find it difficult to bring their teenagers for this type of cultural activities. Encouraged by this activity we are planning to pursue such items in the future. We greatly appreciate Damithri's efforts (in providingthe script and directing the play), Ishara, Manisha, Shayenne, Maneesha, Sashini and Rajitha for doing an excellent job.

(10) Christmas Carols: This was also one of the items which brought serenity to the function. Three Sinhalese Carols, two Tamil Carols and three English carols were sung to a very quiet but packed hall.

(11) Raffle and Door Pricess: We had a large number of prices (14) for the raffle with some of them valued at more than 100$. Again the collection from the raffle was a record as well. This was driven by Sherene Wikrmanayake and supported by Anoma Tissera and Winnie Wije. Raffle ticket sales lead by Malathi Tissera and supported by Tina Senevirathna, Ania Ratnayake, Manisha Senarath, Manisha Dias, Ishara Amarasekara and Shenali Dias. We sincerely thank for all the donors for providing many valuable presents for raffle and door prizes.

(12)Santa: Sarath Amarakoon (including the suit): This was one of the main items kids have enjoyed and Kids had a great time with Santa taking pictures and having chats etc.

(13) Clown: Newton Silva: Did a great job in entertaining the kids and preparing them for Santa's arrival..

(14) Presents for kids who did not participates in the activities: Donated by Rohan Basnayake and Winnie Wijey.

(15) Ticket Sales: Sherene, Kanthi, Carmaline, Padmini, Sohan, Prema, Anthony,

(16)Printing of program, and printing tickets: Nalin, Deepani, Gamini, Sohan

(17)Plaques for the former executives: Gamini, Kanthi

(18)Projector & set up- Gamini, Chandima Amarakoon, Vajira

(19) Helping hands - Lakmal Jayawardena, Chinthana Ekanayake, Patrick's son, Nandana, Prabath

(20)Tea preparation: Deepani, Shani and Anoma

(21)Support at the entrance - Anoma, Sherene, Kanthi, Winnie and Shani

(22) Finally, we appreciate everyone who participated in cleaning up of the hall after the event.