Saipan Ice & Water Company Inc. joins bronze sponsors

Saipan Ice & Water Company Inc. is recognized as a bronze sponsor for the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022 at their company’s headquarters in Lower Base last Friday. Mini Games Organizing Committee CEO Ben Babauta, fourth from left, is joined by Saipan Ice & Water CEO Mila Pellegrino, middle, vice president Xavier Borja, fifth from right, and staff along with the Mini Games Organizing Committee members. (LEIGH GASES)

Saipan Ice & Water Company Inc. has joined the ranks of bronze sponsors for the Northern Pacific Mini Games 2022 after donating over 100,000 cases of 500ml and 10-liter water bottles and over 6,000 bags of ice to the quadrennial event.

At the Saipan Ice & Water office in Lower Base last Friday, the Mini Games Organizing Committee and management staff of Saipan Ice showed some cases of the water bottles, complete with the 2022 Mini Games logo which will be distributed throughout the duration of the Games.

Mini Games Organizing Committee CEO Vicente “Ben” Babauta thanked Saipan Ice for their generous donation of hydration.

“We are really grateful for your donation. We’ve been working on this since last year. We’re basically procuring over 100,000 bottles of water. And not only the 500 milliliter, but the 1 liter. And… up to 6,000 bags of ice. It’s quite important for the athletes. They’re looking forward to it… It’s a big help from Saipan Ice & Water. Thank you so much for your generosity.

“As athletes, they drink a lot of hydration. And with the weather, our weather here in summer, it’s quite humid. It’s really important and key that we hydrate everybody, including the volunteers and our technical officials. So hydration is important. Saipan Ice & Water is important for the visitors and our community also,” said Babauta.

Asked why Saipan Ice & Water donated to the Mini Games, company vice president Xavier Borja said, “hydration is a very important part of any kind of physical activity. So especially now that the [Mini Games] is here, that’s something that we want to be a part of, to partner up with the Games and also the community. It’s also like a once-in-a-century event, and we don’t want to miss out on that opportunity.

“We’re the largest [water company] and we’ve been here the longest so we’re glad to be a part of this first-time event,” said Borja.

Babauta added that Saipan Ice also contributed ice boxes to the Games. “It’s really critical for the athletes to access those ice in lieu of ice packs, in lieu of icing them down with ice baths and recovery. So that’s important on our site, having it readily available, not only in the venue, but also the hotels, in this case Grandvrio [Resort] and Pacific Islands Club. And I believe all the inventory has been dropped off already and the next one is the venue. We’re very, very grateful for Saipan Ice to partake in our role and responsibility as a host and providing ice.”

According to Babauta, Matson Navigation Co. has also donated a 20-foot reefer, which is a refrigerated container, to store the ice that Saipan Ice donated.