The second phase of project “Coast To Coast”, an initiative from the International Service Avenue of
RACFOSUOC kickstarted on 11th December 2020.
Our goal was to connect people through letter exchanging. The feeling of having a friend who lives a
thousand miles away, yet always ready to pour his/her heart out onto paper, enticed our fellow Rotaract
members. They all wanted to connect, to escape, and to try to enjoy being stuck at home…and our
program provided a valuable platform for them!
The most active Rotaractors in our pen pal program were Sashini Saubhagya, Cabilan
Ganeshamoorthy, Hiruni De Zoysa, and Rukshala Gunaratne. They managed to correspond with their
assigned penpals multiple times. Other rotaractors namely, Malshaka Kodikara, Mohomed Izad, Dasith
Tilakaratne, Uresha Gunasekara, Rashmi Kurukulasooriya, Pawani Weerasooriya, and Randima Fernando,
kept in touch with their assigned pen pals too. They exchanged letters with members of the Rotaract club of DG Vaishnav College, RID 3232 and Rotaract Club of Aberdeen, RID 1010.
Pandemic made us lose track of time, and even before we knew it, Christmas had jingled its way in!!
Heartwarming emails with Rotaract Christmas posts attached were sent to our pals overseas; to
participants from both Rotaract clubs and foreign nursing homes.
We managed to establish our connections with two international Rotaract clubs, the Rotaract club of DG
Vaishnav College and Rotaract Club of Aberdeen. To show our gratitude for joining hands with us, we
sent out a plaque of appreciation and a special gift pack to the Rotaract Club of Aberdeen. Additionally, our fellow Rotaractors wished to make their pen pal experience memorable by sending out a special gift to their pen pals, and we managed to make their wish come true!
This phase of the program was truly about making new friends and rekindling and forming strong
bonds with international Rotaract Clubs and uplifting the mental health of the people who participated
in our project. All the club members who participated affirmed that this pen pal experience was a major diversion, in a good way, in their lives worn out by the global crisis.
By Rtr. Nivi Gunawardhena
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