Our projects at NCYE are detailed below. If you have any questions or comments, please visit the Contact Us tab of this website to reach out to us!
Cultural Initiatives
Kalai Vizha Fundraising:
A cultural event called the Kalai Vizha is held in Raleigh, or Charlotte, North Carolina, on an annual basis (switching between cities every other year). People from other states, such as Pennsylvania, New York, and South Carolina attend as well. Many members of the Tamil community from these states participate in this event with dances, music, and plays. NCYE has done various fundraisers at the Kalai Vizhas, with some fundraisers including plant selling, food sales, and sales of DVDs of the performances. The money we make from these events has been put toward funding education initiatives in Sri Lanka.
Virtual Education Initiative:
As of August 2019, we have established a relationship with Annai Illam (under Aram Trust Fund), an education program in Sri Lanka that provides free education to low-income students and students with unfortunate family conditions–mostly stemming from the effects of the Sri Lankan war. Our members now engage in Skype and Zoom calls with students to help better their English speaking skills (the native language of the students is Tamil). This program allows both our members and the students in Annai Illam who are across the globe from each other to further familiarize themselves with each other’s culture and language, benefiting everyone involved.
The following pictures are screenshots and pictures of a Skype or Zoom call:
Remembering & Healing:
Sri Lankan Tamil Remembrance
Healthy Water for Schools in Rural Sri Lanka
We, along with the nonprofit North Carolinians for Peace Foundation (NCFPF), partnered with the Pari Foundation to help get clean water in educational institutions for young kids and teachers. The Pari Foundation is a nonprofit organization that serves underprivileged youth in Sri Lanka with amenities and facilities to improve their ability to access education.
With the great collaboration of our 2024-2025 NCYE Board, NCFPF, and the Pari Foundation, over several months, we were able to put together an elaborate project to install five water filtration systems for rural schools in Sri Lanka, where safe drinking water was scarce and difficult to acquire. We raised more than $1,900 for these projects by knocking door-to-door, speaking with people who once lived in these areas, and maintaining consistent communication with our donors.
Thank you to NCFPF and the Pari Foundation for working with us to provide these water filtration systems. A big thanks goes out to the several families in our community who donated and worked tirelessly to bring this project to life. Your donations and aid helped the NCYE Board bring an idea this organization has had for years to life!
The following photos are of Anjalee (former executive director), Amalee (Co-President), and Geethan (member), who put together a trip to visit the schools where we installed these filtration systems in rural Sri Lanka.
Interfaith Food Drive Donation
In memory of the 2009 Mullivaikkal Massacre, a killing spree carried out against Tamils in Sri Lanka to end the war, NCYE organized a food drive to honor those lives lost and spread positivity for local communities.
Together, we collected and donated 250 pounds of food to the Interfaith Food Bank.
School Supplies Donation to Uyirillai
We, in partnership with the North Carolinians for Peace Foundation, donated $1042 (308,212.66 LKR) to Uyirilai (https://uyirilai.org). This organization, based in Mankulam, Mullaitivu in Sri Lanka, stands for supporting individuals who have spinal cord injuries that have resulted from the Sri Lankan Civil War–primarily the last phase. This community of over 250 members was looking for school materials for their grade-school kids (around 50). Using funds from prior fundraisers, we were able to provide for them so that these kids could have the materials to be successful in school.
The following are a video and some of the pictures that Uyirilai sent us of their kids during an assembly, unexpectedly receiving school supplies:
Backpack Initiative for VANNI’s ASSOCIATION FOR THE VISUALLY HANDICAPPED
Over the holiday season in 2023, we worked in coordination with the Vanni Association of the Visually Handicapped (https://vanniassociationforvisuallyhandicapped.com)! NCYE donated around 50 bags that were personalized for the children of Tamil people who had become visually handicapped due to the war that happened in Sri Lanka, to help them have the resources to further their education. In these bags, we provided items such as pencils, colored pencils, notebooks, toys, and postcards thanks to generous donations (listed below)!
Money Donors: Thanks to the Rasathurais, Nithianandarajahs, and Pathmanathans. The money they donated to us for this effort was put toward buying notebooks based on each kid’s grade. Each student received an average of 4 notebooks for each of their classes.
Item Donors: A huge thanks goes to the Sutharshans for donating all of the items that we were able to pack: backpacks, fidget toys, pencils, colored pencils, etc. It would not have been possible to help these children without their huge contributions and the transportation of these items to Sri Lanka!
Logistics: A thank you goes to our partnering organizations: NCFPF and NCFP. These presidents (Puviindran Nadesan and Deni Walter) helped us get in contact with this organization. Another thank you goes to Aathushan (a Co-President) and Abishan Sutharshan (Advisor), as well as Akshana and Abeena Roni (members), for ultimately delivering these backpacks.
Volunteers: Thanks to everyone who came out and helped pack these backpacks.
MulliVaikkal Food Drive
In memory of the Mullivaikkal Massacre, in which 140,000 Tamil lives were lost in Sri Lanka, NCYE held a food drive to help those in need. We were able to collect 405 pounds of food for the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina. These donations helped some of the 600,000 people in the area who are food insecure.
ORHAn Donations
NCYE completed donations for ORHAN, the Organization for the Rehabilitation of Handicapped Persons in Vavuniya, Sri Lanka. Items like printers, school supplies, and clothes were donated.
Local Initiatives
Holiday Craft Sale
At our annual NCYE Holiday celebration, we hosted a craft sale and sold a wide variety of items, including crochet bags, bracelets, and customized family portrait frames. All of our items were handmade by NCYE members who contributed to raising $400+ for NCYE to put towards future projects.
Note In the Pocket Clothing Drive
NCYE organized a holiday clothing drive aimed towards providing clothing for underprivileged, school-aged kids and teens. This drive ran from Thanksgiving to Christmas and was one of our biggest clothing drives in NCYE history. All clothing was donated to Note in the Pocket-a nonprofit organization in North Carolina that works to eliminate clothing insecurity. Thanks to all of our members for donating and being proactive for this cause this 2025 holiday season.
Nails By the Sea
NCYE painted nails at the annual beach retreat in North Topsail Beach. Many members from NCYE and our partner organization, NCFPF, donated money in exchange for their nails to be painted. This was the largest fundraiser of the year, raising around $900! These donations were put towards funding water filters for underprivileged schools in Sri Lanka without clean water and school supplies for Uyirillai.
tumbler fundraiser
At North Carolina For Peace’s annual cricket tournament and later at our annual holiday community gathering, NCYE sold our tumblers to raise money to put toward donations to Sri Lanka and local communities.
INTERFAith Food Shuttle – Holiday Food Drive
NCYE held a Holiday Food Drive, where donations came from multiple families in the central NC area. 48 pounds of various items were donated to the Interfaith Food Shuttle, a food bank associated with Meals on Wheels of Wake County.
Battick Inspired Tie-dye Fundraiser
At North Topsail Beach, we held a fundraiser to raise money for other NCYE projects. We tie-dyed 70 pieces of merchandise: 15 bucket hats, 40 T-shirts, and 15 masks. In our culture, this style is called Battick, with families in our community purchasing these handmade Battick merchandise. We were able to raise $625 in total for charity.
COVID-19 Mask Project
To assist in the COVID-19 pandemic, NCYE made 165 cloth face masks. These masks were distributed to Durham Rescue Mission and BellaRose Nursing and Rehab!
Wakemed Toy Drive
In December of 2020, NCYE participated in a Toy Drive for WakeMed Hospital right before Christmas. A variety of toys were gathered from families of NCYE, such as stuffed animals, puzzles, and sports balls, and were donated in order to be given to hospital patients.
Meals on Wheels of Durham donation
NCYE donated $100 worth of items to Meals on Wheels of Durham. Pillows for seniors for their “Subaru Share the Love” event were donated, as well as snacks and nutrition shakes. These were all ordered from Amazon and shipped directly to Meals on Wheels Durham.
Note In the Pocket Clothing Drive
NCYE donated clothes to Note in the Pocket, a non-profit organization in NC that delivers clothes to underserved families and children.
North Carolinian Youth For Education 