Hashers donate to tsunami victims

The Saipan Hash House Harriers donated $1,510 to the local chapter of the American Red Cross on Tuesday in hopes that it may be of some assistance to the victims of the tsunami that wreaked havoc from the shores of Sumatra, to the coastal villages of Sri Lanka, to the Horn of Africa.

“We’re islanders, and we want to show the other islanders that we can relate. Although we’ve never experienced a tsunami, we can definitely relate to the violence of the ocean,” said founding member of the local group, Wolf Mojica.

According to Mojica, the Saipan Hashers have been running through the streets and jungles of Saipan every week for the past 20 years, thus making them the most consistently meeting organization in Saipan.

“We have held a run rain or shine every week for the past 20 years. We promote having a good time and staying fit,” he said.

This is the first time in their history that the local group has been able to make a donation, and according to fellow organizer Bobbi Grizzard, they felt that this was the right thing to do and the right time to do it.

“First of all, we’re much better off than they are over there, so we wanted to share what we could. We usually have free hashes when we have some money saved up, but we figured that this would be a much better idea,” said Grizzard

Grizzard added that the Saipan Hash came up with the figure of $1,000 to donate to the ARC, and that the additional $510 came from anonymous donations from individual runners involved with the group.

“I was really surprised when Bobbi came down to drop off the check to me today, but we’ve been getting a lot of support from the community. We certainly appreciate the donation and want to thank them very much,” said the executive director of the Northern Marianas Chapter of the American Red Cross John Hirsh.

According to Hirsh, all of the money collected on Saipan will be sent to the international services department of the ARC in Washington, D.C., and redirected to the affected region based upon the need of medical supplies, food, etc., in concert with the international society.

The Saipan Hash House Harriers meet in the parking lot of the Bank of Guam in Garapan every Saturday at 3:30pm prior to the start of their runs, and anyone seeking adventure or wishing to see more of Saipan is welcome to join them.