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Inaugural meeting of SLAM 55+ Seniors Group in 2016

History

 
Background Information
Sri Lankan Association of Manitoba (SLAM) conducted its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on June 6th 2015 and called for the first Board Meeting on June 22nd 2015. At the maiden meeting main agenda item was to discuss about the Grant Application to be submitted on September 2015 to Ethno-Cultural Support Program (ECSP). Board Members discussed in length and finalize number of proposals out of which to establish a Sri Lankan Seniors Group was one of them. The Seniors proposal was focused on two prong approach. One was to enhance seniors’ healthy living standard and the second was to trickle down seniors’ ethno-cultural knowledge among younger generation. The Board decided to identify volunteers to prepare ground work to formulate a seniors’ group. As a preliminary step Board conducted discussion with Daya Perera. On May 11th 2016 a preliminary discussion was held at Daya’s home (74, Strewchuk Bay, Winnipeg, Manitoba) participation with Sunimal and Daya Perera, Shrima and Peter Bastien, Lileena and Felix Mendis, Ismath Mohamed, and Senaka Samarasinghe, President, SLAM.
 
The Board of SLAM decided to allocate the increased amount between two new projects namely seniors and youth. For seniors project the Board decided to identify volunteers to prepare ground work to formulate a seniors’ group. As a preliminary step Board conducted discussion with Daya (Felix) Perera and circulated an email on May 30th 2016 informing that the inaugural meeting will be held on June 23rd (TUE), 2016 from 6.00 pm to 9.00 pm at the Meeting Hall, Pembina Trial Library.  
 
Senaka called the meeting and welcome 26 participating senior members of SLAM. He briefed participants about the details of preliminary discussion which was held at Daya’s home. Senaka turned the meeting over to Peter who directed the members elect a Committee for the  Sri Lankan 55+ Seniors Group Manitoba.
 
First General Meeting
Held at the Meeting Hall, Pembina Trial Library  
The following Board Members were elected (from June 23rd 2016 to June 17th 2018)
  1. President - Peter Bastians
  2. Secretary - Ismath Mohamed
  3. Treasurer - Felix Mendis
  4. Member - Daya Perera
  5. Member - Keerthi Pathirana
  6. Member - Sumana Dissanayaka  
 
Peter invited participants to suggest with proposals to be implemented by the Seniors Group in future. Organize winter and summer activities, a common meeting place, provide Sinhala newspaper for a nominal fee, organize traditional handcraft work shop, organize an indoor event once a month such as movie night and card games. Invite experts for special areas such as health services, insurance and domestic security. As a long-term suggestion was made to establish a Sri Lankan seniors’ home.   
 
Second Annual General Meeting
Second Annual General Meeting held at Elwick Community Centre
Following Board Members were elected (from June 17th 2018 to June 21st 2020)
  1. Daya Perera - President
  2. Senaka Samarasinghe - Vice President
  3. Peter Bastians - Past President
  4. Ismath Mohamed - Secretary
  5. Felix Mendis - Treasurer
  6. Sumana Dissanayaka - Member
  7. Upali Dassanayaka - Member
  8. Elian Joseph - Member
  9. Hemasiri Perera - Member
 
The incumbent President, Daya also agreed to carry out to implement the past President, Peter’s proposals. Further, Daya’s priority area was fundraising. As a result, during his tenure, Daya managed to obtained to get Grant Fund of $5000.00.    
 
Third Annual General Meeting
The AGM was held via Zoom
Following Board Member were elected on June 21st 2020
  1. Senaka Samarasinghe - President
  2. Sam Wijewardana - Vice President
  3. Peter Bastians - Past President
  4. Daya Perera - Past President
  5. Ismath Mohamed - Secretary
  6. Felix Mendis - Treasurer
  7. Elian Joseph - Member
  8. Sumana Dissanayaka - Member
(9) Upali Dassanayaka - Member
      (10) Shrima Bastian - Member
(11) Zeyra Hussain - Member
(12) Hemasiri Perera - Member
(13) Charlotte Gunawardena - Member
 
Senaka as current President pledged to continue the polices of the Past President, Daya. As a result, in the early 2021 managed to obtain $25000.00.                                                                                   
 
Summary
A List of Events prepared to illustrate the type of activities conducted from the date establishment of the Seniors Group. Following information are available
 
(1) Number allocated for each occasion
(2) Name of the newspaper published our event
(3) Manitoba Provincial Seniors Newspaper (Month and Year too depicted)
(4) Scanned paper cuttings with short narration of the event and few photos
(5) Each and every narration illustrate historical status the specific month
(6) You Tube link of the presentation / incident
(7) Total number of member participants 
(8) Photo coverage with less than six photos