NMIVA to raise funds for programs

Matthew Berline serves during a Northern Mariana Islands Volleyball Association-association organized beach volleyball tournament last month at the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan sand court. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Northern Mariana Islands Volleyball Association will be more aggressive in holding tournaments and fundraisers to secure funds for its various programs.

“We will be available to help groups fundraise for their own purposes, but we will ask that a percentage of the proceeds remain with NMIVA to help us rebuild, too. Any events that NMIVA initiates going forward (after the Jan. 5 fundraising event of Mt. Carmel School Alumni) will be for the purpose of trying to refill our own reserves so that we can buy new equipment, which is either shared with the community or donated to school programs,” NMIVA president Laurie Peterka said.

“We also need funds to hold training courses for coaches, referees, and administrators, or send people to trainings. Our goal for 2019 will be to raise $30,000, which will be really tough, but we want to try. It’s a huge challenge with no paid staff,” the NMIVA head added.

In the past, NMIVA was able to raise substantial amount to finance its tournaments and other programs, but the association has not been that active in the last three years thus its coffer is running out of reserves. The group also does not get regular financial aid from the government and has limited access to funding from other sources.

“We don’t receive any funds from the CNMI government, so everything we do relies entirely on fundraising and all of our volunteers,” Peterka said. NMIVA had received some funding from the FIVB and AVC through the OZVA from 2012 to 2016, but those funding mechanisms no longer exist.”

“We also have limited access to development through NMSA grants on annual basis, but it’s not enough to fully run a national federation. In a normal year, we need to raise about $30,000/year, but we rarely reach this goal. We usually fall short at around $15,000/year. But since 2015, we haven’t been active, so we are down to our last cash reserves,” she added.

To raise funds that will be used to implement its program, NMIVA will try to host competitions quarterly.

“We will shoot for another event some time between March and June 2019 to keep our goal of a minimum of quarterly events going. In the meantime, we will continue to work closely with PSS and CCOPSSA for helping with in-school volleyball activities as scheduled by their respective sport programs,” Peterka said.

Meanwhile, NMIVA and the Mt Carmel School Alumni would like to thank the following for supporting tomorrow’s 2019 Kickoff Reverse Co-Ed Grass Volleyball Tournament at the Navy Hill Field: UR Tents, John Blanco, Lena Villagomez, and the CNMI Parks & Recs. The two groups would also like to recognize I Love Saipan, QQ Car Rental, and Triple J for providing gift certificates to the winners of this weekend’s event.