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The SLYO LA Chapter created an opportunity for strangers to bond together while helping the unfortunate during the holiday season. They provided holiday gifts and decorations to a family in need in order to help them have a more memorable holiday season together.

The SLYO Mixer was a social in-person networking event for youth. The event was valuable for bringing youth together to discuss topics important to them and to allow them to become more invested in current issues.

The SLYO LA Chapter supported the Morahana School in Sri Lanka by donating school bags and books. Previously, the chapter built many libraries and donated other school items for underprivileged schools.  SLYO CFO Janaka Abeysinghe, participated in this event along with SLYO Sri Lankan Chapter COO Irosha Liyanarachchi and the members of her chapter for the contribution. Happy Sri Lankan was the official digital combination partner and volunteers like Upul Aravinda of Sri Lanka Army and Sponsors from the USA including Royal Cup café made a large contribution. SLYO LA Chapter believes in the importance of empowering the current generation with educational resources to help them build a better future and to help them develop into leaders. Completing this project was one way of doing so.

The SLYO LA chapter was thrilled to see the Sri Lankan team perform so successfully in the 2015 Special Olympics. The team took home 3 Gold, 2 bronze and 3 silver medals. The SLYO members were grateful to spend time with the special olympics team at Ape Kade and Sky High and would like to thank PK for giving the committee the opportunity.

In 2015 the SLYO LA Chapter took the leadership to organize and host a pageant event to highlight diversity and culture. The Chapter extended their thanks to the Sri Lankan Foundation for giving them the opportunity to showcase the Cultural Pageant in Pasadena, CA. They also appreciated the work of all the models, founder Aruni Ganewatte, SLYO spokesperson Jehan for the Choreography, and Chaturika Desilva for the costume design.

In 2015, SLYO LA Chapter along with a team of dedicated volunteers took the initiative to prepare and distribute warm meals to underprivileged homeless members of the community. SLYO firmly believes in the value of all members of the community and in combating hunger. The committee would like to thank the volunteers, everyone who donated food and Kinecta Federal Credit Union for their support.

SLYO LA chapter hosted their first event, a Women’s Empowerment Conference in 2016. It was a great success, as accomplished women shared the life stories of their accomplishments and gave advice on how to overcome hardships women often face. Topics covered varied from life lessons to how to deal with gender bias. SLYO’s main goal through this conference was to inspire women to overcome the struggles that they may face in society, in the workplace and ultimately to believe that no goal is impossible to achieve.