As Christmas is always about happiness, love and strengthening bonds, our one last project for the year 2021, KRIS KRINGLE was the fruitful outcome of a fabulous organizing committee. Carrying the objective of sharing ecstasy while developing the engagement of the club members, this project was an amazing milestone in our Rotaract journey.
In order to provide a break to the monotonous life of Rotaractors due to the pandemic and the academic stress, the Club Service Avenue of the Rotaract Club of University of Kelaniya organized a splendid Christmas soiree, “Kringle Eve” on the 28th of December via Zoom platform. Celebrating the final event for the year 2021, Kringle Eve began at 7p.m with 80+ participants in attendance. The organizing committee was dressed up in green and white outfits to add vividness to the party.
The moderators, Rtr. Dinithi Lorensuhewa and Rtr. Shaikh Dawood brought a holly-jolly spirit to the audience till the end.
One of the project chairpersons, Rtr. Apsari Wijayarathna delivered a welcoming speech by adding a cheerful beginning to the event.
It’s a must to say that Kringle Eve was full of surprises. The first and the foremost surprise was revealing the special guest artist, a popular cinema, teledrama and a stage actress, a singer, a composer and a dancer Ms. Umali Thilakarathne to the audience. Also, her valuable words and her soothing voice managed to confer and captivate everyone’s hearts.
As this project was held in two phases, the committee organized a Tik Tok video contest, which was themed under Christmas for all the undergraduates at the University of Kelaniya. The main objective was to showcase the creative talents of the undergraduates and mainly to boost the official Tik Tok account of the Rotaract Club of University of Kelaniya.
Keeping up the enthusiasm and curiosity of all the competitors, the winners of the video contest were announced by two judges. The winners of the categories of most creative and talented videos were announced by Ms. Gangulee Walpola, an Attorney-at-law by profession, a content creator as well as a vocalist.
Rtr. Shakya Wikramarachchi and Rtr. Thedini Herath were announced as the winners of the “Most creative video” while Rtr.Sandeepani Godage was selected as the “Most talented creator”.
Getting super excited with our very first game “CHRISTMAS PEEKABOO”, several clues were provided and the audience had to guess the hidden object or the character which was hidden behind the screens of our own Rotaractors.
Rtr. Shaikh introduced the next guest artist, a Sri Lankan musician Dhyan Hewage, who managed to win the hearts of the audience in a jiffy. The mellifluous songs of his, ‘Hanthane’ and ‘Hada para’ succeeded in touching the hearts of all the love birds in the audience.
The next invitation went to the person who has strived to keep this club steady and who has been the backbone of the club, president Rtr. Kisal Ekanayake to deliver his speech.
The next eye-opening session was an amusing game named ‘ONE TRACK MIND’ which managed to engage all the onlookers with their funny answers, and it was the most laughable moment of the event.
Next, one of the judges for the Kris Kringle Video competition, IPP Rtn. Rtr. Nipuna Rambukkanage, who is also the joint director of Community Service in Rotaract District Steering Committee (RID 3220), announced the winners of the “Most popular video” category. The contest was open for both Rotaractors and Non-Rotaractors, and the winners were selected based on Tik Tok likes. Rtr. Imashini Hewage was the winner of the “Most Popular video – Rotaractor” while Randika Abeyrathna was announced as the winner of the “Most Popular video Non-Rotaractor”.
Rtr. Dinithi Lorensuhewa presented the next guest artists with glorious admires, the aspiring youngsters who continued to be avid followers of music, Mr. Sarith Jayawardenaand Mr. Surith Jayawardena. The Kris Kringle Eve was enchanted through their spellbinding voices of them.
One of the most awaited moments of Kringle Eve was revealing the Secret Santas and announcing the two winners. In addition to the video contest, there was another challenge to all our Rotaractors, and the respective cues were given in flyers in order to arouse their curiosity.
Rtr. Amanda Wimalasiri and Rtr. Thinuri Nanayakara hosted that session and finally, the audience was captivated with the entrance of the Secret Santas, Rtr. Nipuna Rambukkanage and Rtr. Thenuri Gajaweera. The winners were announced by the Santas and Rtr. Samadhi Perera and Rtr. Dushyantha Rathnayake were recognized as the ingenious winners of the event.
Cheers to both!
It was a huge accomplishment to cherish this Christmas with fellow Rotaractors, and at last, everyone got a chance to witness one of the best memories in their Rota journey so far, which was indeed visible through the screen. Thus, this wasn’t exactly just another project but an eve of happiness, joy, gifts, love and sharing bonds too. All the working hours, sleepless nights paid off after witnessing the beautiful outcome as making someone smile during each day is such a valuable thing a human being can afford.
