A record-breaking fundraising tally was just one highlight at an annual dinner dance hosted by Sydney-based charity Somascan Missions. The evening for more than 650 guests held in Condell Park on 14 February showcased many life-changing successes since the last annual fundraiser.
It raised almost $400,000 for the charity’s local and global projects which assist orphaned, abandoned and impoverished children in Sri Lanka, India and Mozambique.
Over the past five years the event has grown into a major fundraiser in Sydney’s southwest, with people packing the Grand Vaudaville in Condell Park in Sydney’s southwest for an evening of food, fun and fellowship.
Somascan Missions is based at St Joseph’s parish in Moorebank, parish priest Fr Mathew Velliyamkandathil CRS and Glenmore Park parish priest Fr Johnson Malayil CRS were joined for the evening by their assistant priests Fr David Romero Rodas CRS, Fr Paul Antony CRS and Fr Sheldon Burke CRS. A number of clergy and benefactors from across the Archdiocese of Sydney were also in attendance.
Assistant priest at St Mary’s Cathedral Fr Benjamin Saliba returned to MC the event, entertaining the crowd along with fundraiser favourite DJ Mr Jayson as the silent auctions and raffles got underway.
New to the line-up was R&B band Mahogany Flow, fronted by British-Caribbean vocalist Laura Stephenson, and artist Haley from Illustorystudio, who hand-drew watercolour and digital portraits of couples throughout the evening.
Former assistant priest Fr Chris de Sousa CRS, now the Rome-based general councillor for the Somascan Fathers, delivered the keynote speech for the evening.
This included updates to a planned rehabilitation and formation retreat centre near Goulburn, progress on the establishment of a new school, Emiliani College, new partnerships with Mission Australia, and the arrival of two religious sisters, Missionary Daughters of St Jerome Emiliani to assist in pastoral services across the communities.
Also announced was the successful completion of restoration works at St Jerome College in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, in India, the major international project which was supported by the 2025 fundraiser.
Fr de Sousa invited representatives of Settlement Services International (SSI), a national not-for-profit social services organisation, to join him and commemorate a significant partnership with Somascan Missions to support foster care in New South Wales.
A memorandum of understanding had been secured to promote awareness about foster care, strengthen recruitment across migrant communities, and co-design trauma-informed, spiritually and culturally responsive youth programs for children and young people in the system through the Somascan Youth Movement, he said.
“Our partnership further includes early-intervention family preservation support, practical assistance for vulnerable families through our Somascan Family Ministries, and enhanced support for foster carers – particularly kinship grandparents – reducing burnout and strengthening placement stability through MianiCare and MianiMeals,” he explained.
In late November and early December, Cyclone Ditwah devastated the island nation of Sri Lanka, affecting and displacing 2.2 million people across all 25 districts of the country in one of the worst flood disasters for more than two decades.
Fr de Sousa told guests that on behalf of the global missions office, he travelled to Sri Lanka to assess damages to boys’ homes in Negombo and Kandy and discovered an “overwhelming need” for more support there.
Consequently, funds from this year’s dinner dance will go towards the construction of a new boys’ home in the district of Kurunegala, located between the two present homes.
Many generous donors added to the success of the evening with silent auction prizes including a framed replica of the tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe which auctioned for $60,000; a record bid for the annual dinner dance.
For more information on Somascan Missions see www.somascanmissions.org.au or email info@somascan.org.au.
