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Red Cross thanks partners, donors
Officials from the Hawaii and California offices of the American Red Cross visited Saipan to thank some of their partners and donors during the wake of Typhoon Soudelor.
“They are out making a visit kind of a post-Soudelor. Its really to thank the donors, to thank all of our volunteers,” ARC-Northern Mariana Islands chapter executive director John Hirsh said.
Among those that they visited was Coral Ocean Golf Resort where they met with operations director Dennis Seo and E-Land’s Micronesia Resort Inc. chief executive officer Matthew Park.
Hirsh praised the resort’s efforts after Typhoon Soudelor saying that they were among those who responded first and provided water for the people in need.
Red Cross Pacific Division vice president Michael Jordan they are proud of the work that they were able to do on Saipan.
“In behalf of the Red Cross and our donors and our partners, we’re really proud to say that we’re able to contribute and commit $5.5 million toward the response and recovery efforts,” Jordan said.
“The outpouring support of the community and our partners has been incredible,” he added.
Jordan recognized, however, that there are still work to be done.
“After the initial response, providing food and shelter and comfort, care items, now it’s the recovery phase and so we’re working on case management and with our partners and Federal Emergency Management Agency to try to help take care of those folks and get them to the right partners in the community to help them rebuild their lives,” Jordan said.
He added that emotional healing for the people is also needed.
“It’s almost six months post-Soudelor and the staff and volunteers that I had a chance to talk to are still emotionaly, even though physically it looks like things are getting better, I think emotionally there’s still a lot of work and a lot of healing in the community,” Jordan said.
Aside from Jordan, ARC-Hawaii chapter chief executive officer Coralie Chun Matayoshi and chief development officer Jennifer Dotson were also on Saipan for the visit.
