Mobil donates $20K to the American Red Cross

Mobil donated $20,000 to the American Red Cross yesterday to support the organization’s recovery efforts following the devastating effects of Typhoon Soudelor.

Charles Ewart, president of Mobil Oil Mariana Islands, Inc., presented the check to ARC-NMI Chapter executive director John Hirsh at the Red Cross chapter office on Airport Road.

Mobil Oil Mariana Islands, Inc. president Charles Ewart presents Mobil’s $20,000 check donation to the American Red Cross-Northern Mariana Islands Chapter. The donation will be used for short- and long-term recovery efforts, according to ARC. (Frauleine S. Villanueva)

“Mobil has been a very long-term supporter of Red Cross. We’re really happy that they’re able to continue to contribute to the relief efforts here for Typhoon Soudelor,” Hirsh said.

According to the Red Cross, the donation will be used not only for the short-term but also for the long-term recovery, which includes tackling health issues and the continuing reconstruction of homes and key infrastructure.

“Those moneys are going to be used not just for the short-term but some of the longer term projects that we’re working on. We’re working with the long-term recovery committee, working side by side with a lot of our other partner agencies to develop the casework programs that we can identify the families that are really the most at risk, the most vulnerable, and see what we can do to bring our resources together,” Hirsh said.

For Mobil, the donation is part of their commitment to the CNMI community.

“We clearly take our responsibility to provide fuel to the islands—to communities all around the world for that matter—very, very seriously and this is just another example of our commitment to the community that we operate in,” Ewart said.

Like the first responders and volunteers who stepped up to the plate after the typhoon, Ewart also commended their own staff.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is our staff. They put the needs of the community above their own. A lot of them have damage to their properties, but they turned up to work because they knew we had to get fuel back out to the service stations to service the community, to make sure that the responders were able to respond effectively,” Ewart said.

Mobil said they worked hard to overcome the challenges at their terminal after Soudelor so that they could resume supplying fuel to the service stations and the community.

“What they did was absolutely beyond the call of duty and it shows really how much importance they put in the community and our responsibility to the community,” he added.