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HANMI donates $1K to man’amko council
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Posted on Feb 13 2014
The Office on Aging’s congregants applauded and cheered yesterday as officials of the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands turned over a donation of $1,000 to the Saipan Seniors Advisory Council.
Hyatt Regency Saipan general manager Nick Nishikawa, who chairs HANMI, together with Fiesta Resort and Spa Saipan general manager Abner Acosta, presented the check to Council president Maria Salinas and vice president Jess Pangelinan, in the presence of Office on Aging’s acting director Walter Manglona.
Nishikiwa said their organization has been doing this donation for the past five years. HANMI used to provide lunch services for the Aging Center’s man’amko but later switched to monetary contributions. He said it will be up to the Council to decide what to do with the money.
Nishikawa said the hotel business has been getting better and they just want to support and contribute to the community. He hopes that by doing so, the community will help the only moneymaking industry in the Northern Marianas.
Manglona told Saipan Tribune that the donation would make the man’amko’s trip to Guam a lot easier. “The man’amko are really happy and we really appreciate that the hotels are thinking about the elderly on Saipan,” he added.
Other than the check donation, Hyatt has also been supporting the man’amko by allowing them to use their pools twice a month for physical workouts. Fiesta helps by hosting them during events, mostly holidays.
Nishikawa said, “In Japanese culture it is important to respect your elders.” He said this is the same as the Chamorro and Carolinian cultures where the elderly are treated with the utmost importance and respect.
