Over $6K raised at Fiji drive

The Fiji Relief Drive last Saturday drew the community together in support of Fiji in the wake of the devastating Cyclone Winston.

By 3pm on Saturday afternoon, the drive collected $6,500 dollars in cash and got two-thirds of a 40-foot container filled with donations, according to one of the group organizers and volunteer Gary Sword of the radio station KKMP.

The drive started at early on Saturday morning.

“My heart is thankful for our community because they continue to give and give and give,” said Sword. “This is eight months since [Typhoon] Soudelor and we are just recovering too. But the people did come by so far.

Sword said the 40-foot container was donated by Kyowa Shipping line, through Saipan shipping, and that the shipping line has done the same in the past for Chuuk, Yap, and Samoa. “They’ve always contributed and that shows corporate responsibility, when you serve a community, when something is hurting you need to reach out to that.”

Sword said they’re thankful for Kyowa line and Saipan shipping company, the Office of the Governor for helping with the event, and the Pacific Century Fellows who took care of the money and counting.

He also thanked the Lions Club, and the liberation queens, and the Saipan Mayor’s Office.

Fiji and the CNMI have a history, Sword added. Fiji midwives back in the ’80s and ’90s birthed a lot of the folks in the CNMI right now, whose kids are now having babies, he said.

“These people left their homes and came here to serve us and now it’s time for us to return the favor back to them. We are really grateful. We are hopeful we can fill up this container today and whatever money we have we will transmit to the government of Fiji.”

Sword said the money would be going through the government of Fiji, its natural disaster office, that coordinates with “all of the love that has been generated” over the world and has been sent over after the cyclone.

Sword said the container was filled with boxes of toys, blankets, clothes, shoes, car seats, baby cribs, tools, diapers, and also a unique gift given by D&Q—120 cases of soap, with each case holding 72 bars of soap.

“That’s going to go a long way,” Sword said. “After a typhoon you’ve got to take a shower. These are things that we are really thankful for.”

“They are boxes of toys. That’s going to really bless somebody…Everything and anything you can think. It’s a store in there. You can open a store with what’s in that 40ft container. We know that the people will be blessed.” The people of Fiji …that have been hit are farm areas. Its rural areas where people don’t have much and this will go a long way to help them.”

Sword said he and his wife would be on Fiji on May 4 for a family reunion that they have been planning for two years. Whatever money they collect up to May 3 will be turned into cashier’s check and be presented to the Fiji prime minister when they visit Fiji on behalf of the CNMI governor and people.

Own Cholymay, newly elected president of the Chuukese Association, said their volunteering on Saturday, was “really from our heart.” Even if they are from different islands they want to help each other, he said.

“We want to come down and show our support to our brothers and sisters from Fiji. It’s not only that, but we have experienced…this thing has happened to us back home. “We cannot offer much but at least something” like “barbecue for everyone and show love to them on behalf of the Chuukese community.”