NMC Palauan Club collects nearly 1K cases of bottled water

Northern Marianas College-Palauan Club officers and members, join NMC external relations director Frankie Eliptico, second right, Palau Consulate staff Aileen Kintol, right, and D&Q sales manager Marilyn Marron, sitting center, for a group photo before another batch of donated cases of bottled water was loaded in a container. (Jon Perez)

The Northern Marianas College’s Palauan Club raised close to 1,000 cases of bottled water from the water donation drive they held for two Fridays and one Saturday. They shipped the water last Saturday in cooperation with D&Q and Matson.

Best Sunshine International, Ltd.’s Corporate Social Responsibility Team 1 was one of the largest donors donating more than 400 cases of water. Franchesca Tomokane represented BSI-CSR’s Team 1.

“Joeten and Rep. Vinnie Sablan also donated a number of cases. But there were also a lot of donors, nameless individuals who stopped by during our donation drive and dropped one case each,” said NMC-PC president Dominic Hideo.

Hideo along with NMC-PC officials and members, NMC external relations director Frankie Eliptico, Palau Consulate staff Aileen Kintol, and D&Q sales manager Marilyn Marron and their personnel were present last Saturday when they loaded all cases inside a Matson container van.

“We are thankful for all who helped us in our water drive. Conditions in Palau have been improving and it has been raining in several areas but still there are still problems with clean drinking water,” said Hideo.

“Though there’s already rain, it is still not safe for the people to drink water straight from the faucets. This shipment would help the people of Palau on the issue of potable drinking water especially the elderly, the sick, and those who are already bedridden,” he added.

Marron said Matson, the biggest ocean freight company in the Pacific region, took care of the shipment fee, while D&Q helped with the equipment and personnel to load the cargo.

“Matson provided the container and waived the shipment fee. The water would be shipped to Palau for free while the Saipan Stevedore also waived their fees,” said Marron.

“The Palau Shipping Company would receive the container, which will then be turned over to the Palau Red Cross that would facilitate in the distribution,” she added.

Republic of Palau President Tommy Remengasau Jr. has already declared a state of emergency because of the water crisis with the government also scheduling water service to the more than 20,000 residents living and working in the island nation.

Since the drought, water service had been limited to two hours a day, especially in Koror state, which has a population of close to 12,000.

Northern Marianas College-Palauan Club officers and members, join NMC external relations director Frankie Eliptico, second right, Palau Consulate staff Aileen Kintol, right, and D&Q sales manager Marilyn Marron, sitting center, for a group photo before another batch of donated cases of bottled water was loaded in a container. (Jon Perez)