CCC Foundation is a not-for-profit charitable organisation based on Courage, Compassion & Commitment (CCC). We believe it is these very qualities in those who support our efforts to help the sick and the underprivileged that makes the difference.
CCC Foundation was first registered as Care for Cancer Children in May 2003 to assist children suffering with cancer at the National Cancer Institute Maharagama (NCI) in Sri Lanka. CCC was founded by Jetha Devapura residing in Melbourne Australia following a visit to the children’s wards at NCI. Lions Devika and Gamini Wimalasuriya of the Lions Club of Havelock Town in Colombo Sri Lanka introduced Jetha to the NCI. Jetha and the CCC committee in Melbourne worked together with Devika and Gamini from the Lions from 2003 to 20007 to implement several projects at the children’s section of NCI. CCC provided part of the funds for the CCC Ward – a 16 bed children’s ward, a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit and a counselling facility for children and their families to name a few of their projects.
In February 2004 CCC included a local Australian beneficiary in the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Melbourne. A small percentage of the funds generated by CCC went towards the Children’s Cancer Centre of the RCH. At the same time Senior Paediatric Oncologist Dr. Keith Waters from the Children’s Cancer Centre at the RCH offered to train the medical staff from NCI at the RCH. Six months later in August 2004, the CCC had two nurses a doctor and the Deputy Director of NCI visit RCH in Melbourne for training. In November 2004 Dr. Keith Waters also visited NCI to provide training for the medical staff. Dr. Keith has made several visits to NCI since then and RCH has became a partner of the CCC to provide best practice in Paediatric oncology treatment and care to the benefit the children and adolescence patients at NCI.
In May 2004 the organisation changed its name from Care for Cancer Children to CCC Foundation Inc., inline with the expansion of its scope of work beyond paediatric cancer. CCC stands for Courage, Compassion and Commitment – the three values of the organisation.
In July 2006, CCC also formed a partnership with the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac) who was also interested to support the work of CCC to assist cancer sufferers at the NCI. Nihara Pathirana, a Radiation Therapist from Peter made her first visit to NCI in Oct 2008 to review current practice and implement best practice in Radiation Therapy Treatment and training at NCI. Nihara made her second visit in Nov 2009.
In 2007 CCC starts planning to build the CCC House, the largest cancer transit home in Sri Lanka with 170 beds and a estimated cost of AUD $1.5Million or SL Rupees 150 Million. With the expansion in the size of the projects CCC Foundation Sri Lanka, a branch of CCC Foundation Inc. was formed in April 2007. In 2009 CCC starts the construction of the CCC House project.
In Dec 2009 CCC launches CCCline, a telephone counselling service to support those who require support in the areas of emotional wellbeing and mental health care. CCC partners with Centre for International Mental Health (CIMH), Lifeline International, Lifeline Hobart in Tasmania, Australia and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Angoda in Sri Lanka to provide this vital service to all people in Sri Lanka.
