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Rotary Club donates shelves to Saipan firehouses
The Rotary Club Saipan, headed by president Richard Cody, presented bookshelves to Saipan’s firehouses yesterday, with a plan to stock them up with books and magazines in the months ahead.
A total of six shelves were personally presented to Fire Commissioner Clyde Norita at the Northern Marianas Technical Institute.
Members of the Rotary Club Saipan and the Northern Marianas Technical Institute stand before the bookshelves they donated to the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services. Each firehouse on Saipan will receive a shelf that will be filled with books and magazines to provide pastime activities for firefighters. (Frauleine S. Villanueva)
Four of the bookshelves were donated by Atkins Kroll and refurbished by NMTI. The institute built two more shelves so that all of Saipan’s firehouses will get one.
According to Cody, the project began when he and his wife noticed the lack of recreational materials that firefighters can use while on duty for 24 hours.
“This is a service to the community and you guys out there who are working too long shifts,” Cody said.
Norita noted that firefighters have 24-hour shifts and the fire stations serve as their house for those hours.
Also present at the donation were Rotary director Thomas Thornburgh and secretary Reina Camacho, Rotarian Wendell Posadas, NMTI director Rip Stephanson, and members of the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services.
“We’re very appreciative of the Rotary Club and of course NMTI, and the other partners who put this together. All stations need the shelves definitely, plus the books that are going to come with that eventually,” Norita said.
Rotary will be donating magazines as well and will be organizing a book drive to fill the shelves.
“The more literature we have for our firefighters, the better,” Thornburgh said.
“[This is] not only for our firefighters who are there but for the visitors at the station,” Norita said.
He added that he will also be asking fire stations from off island if they can donate books for Saipan’s stations.
