A pure soul with altruism and philanthropy
The Canadian citizen’s story began in Colombo, Sri Lanka where he has spent his early childhood. Born in a family of 5 siblings and loving parents Arvin recollects his childhood memories as a special one. From being in a gushy family to having the privilege of studying in leading schools, Arvin’s childhood has a special place in his heart. He spent over two decades in Sri Lanka and migrated to Canada with his family amidst the communal disturbance in 1983.
From leaving Sri Lanka for good to flying back to the country, Arvin remarked on his innate skill in sports in both countries. He has represented the senior school cricket team and played for the provincial cricket team in Canada. His return to Sri Lanka welcomed him with a beautiful coincidence when he met his soulmate who now he is married to. The 56-year-old lives with his wife Mitchelle De Kretser in Sri Lanka and have 3 children, the eldest of whom is pursuing clinical Psy.D in California, daughter who won Miss universe SriLanka 2018 lives and works in London, while the youngest runs a Bakery company in Colombo.
With strong aspiration and even strong determination, Arvin thrives on challenges and has constantly set goals for life. “I thrive on challenges and have constantly set goals for myself so that I have some things to strive towards. I’m not comfortable with settling and always looking for opportunities to do better and achieve greater heights.” He has always been a people person and has been fascinated with learning and meeting different people with ideas. Thus, Arvin led his interest and people skill forward and pursued call centre operations/ management as a profession.
‘If you are in the luckiest 10% of humanity, you owe it to the rest of the humanity to think about the other 90%’ says Arvinathan Rasanayagam who lives by the rule of contributing to society and helping the less fortunate. Arvinathan who also goes by the name Arvin is filled with innate compassion and altruism.
Arvin and his wife have been taking initiatives to help the less fortunate and are involved in several charitable works. They believe that such contribution is something that we are led to do and not instructed to do, and therefore the couple has made a rule not to discuss and write about their contribution to society, especially for the less fortunate.
Arvin grew up around the love and affection of his family and was raised to value people which is why he serves the purpose of living a life with peace and contentment. He says, “Each day is a different day with different challenges and providing for my family, living a comfortable life, making positive connections with others, enjoying those around me, travelling overseas, and doing philanthropic work is something I like and the broad smile on any person benefiting from help is something priceless and heartwarming to me.” says Arvin.
Following his life and parallelly contributing to uplift individuals or family Arvin finds immense happiness helping the community. The unrelenting efforts to serve the people is a quality of a person hard to find.
For a man who fosters love in every relationship, how do Arvin foster relationships with colleagues? He answers, “love and relationship are two special things in anyone’s life. It is up to the individual how to foster these two and evolves in a relationship… One must be professional at work and set boundaries. Lead by an example, be assertive but put your arm around the individual. Show that you mean business, at the same time, do not harbour any animosity, show that you are not only one of them but also the leader of the pack.”
An exemplary men’s leader himself, Arvin has inspired hundreds of other men on the path to a fulfilling life. Acknowledging that compassion comes naturally to people Arvin is its epitome who just doesn’t stick to helping underprivileged people but has gone far and has been donating and rescuing pets to provide them the life they deserve.