Thanksgiving at Foyer de Nazareth |02 December 2020

Lions Club of Seychelles donates stationery to children

In celebration of the American Thanksgiving Day which fell on November 26 this year, the Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles through its American Study Centre, hosted a Thanksgiving lunch last Saturday for the boys of Foyer de Nazareth.

The Lions Club also made a donation of stationery and school materials to the foyer.

The event was attended by a representative of the American Consulate in Seychelles and several members of the Lion Clubs of Seychelles. The zone chairperson, Lion Karpagam Senthilkumar, the chairperson Lion Reggie Jayasena and Lion Selvi Karunakaran from the Seychelles Centennial Women Lions club also attended the event. A video was screened explaining what this celebration of sharing and abundance is about with the hope of helping the children to be thankful for what they have and learn the importance of helping others.

“This is an important day for us and our group is committed to taking care of the people who are alone, elderly and vulnerable,” noted members of the Lions Club.

Dr Sassikumar Subramaniam noted that for this donation: “I was contacted by the chief executive of Ceps and he told me they wanted to partner with the Lions Club of Seychelles. He mentioned that they were looking for stationery for school children at the orphanage. Even if it is a great challenge for us, at first I accepted personally to do this operation as it was going for a good cause and to the orphanage children. We managed to have a meeting with the board members and they all approved without saying no as we all felt it was for a good cause. As a service organisation we’ve done so many projects and we have donated various items. This donation is very valuable for us today. When Sister Jeanine contacted me, she was looking for stationery as the money they receive from the government is not sufficient for them to buy the stationery. And we provided stationery for one year costing approximately US $500. We are expecting some more stationery from India and that also we will be donated to orphanages.”

Sister Jeanine representing the Foyer de Nazareth noted that there are currently 16 residents at the Foyer de Nazareth. “For us, education is of great importance and we want to start preparing for the start of school in January 2021. In these difficult times, we are grateful to the Lions Club of Seychelles for coming to help us and also to other organisations also.”

During the day, the children recited a poem, performed a song and did some activities with the newly received materials, followed by a lunch.

The accompanying photos show highlights of the ceremony.

Vidya Gappy

Photos: Louis Toussaint