{"id":209905,"date":"2015-09-08T06:00:50","date_gmt":"2015-09-07T20:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=209905"},"modified":"2015-09-08T06:00:50","modified_gmt":"2015-09-07T20:00:50","slug":"saving-saipan-blane-wilson-works-to-light-up-saipan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/saving-saipan-blane-wilson-works-to-light-up-saipan\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving Saipan: Blane Wilson works to light up Saipan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Editor\u2019s note: Saipan Tribune\u2019s latest series features everyday heroes who are taking part in recovery efforts and assisting those in need after Typhoon Soudelor devastated Saipan.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-209905 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/saving-saipan-blane-wilson-works-to-light-up-saipan\/saving-pix1\/'>Saving pix1<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-209930'>\n\t\t\t\tBlane Taisacan Wilson.\n(Contributed Photo) \t\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/saving-saipan-blane-wilson-works-to-light-up-saipan\/saving-pix2\/'>Saving pix2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-209931'>\n\t\t\t\tThe LuminAID PackLite is waterproof, durable, and after being charged with only seven hours of full sunlight, can put out up to 30 hours of light.\u00a0 (Contributed Photo)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>\u201cImmediately when I saw the aftermath, I knew that something needed to be done to help get Saipan back on its feet,\u201d Blane Taisacan Wilson told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n<p>The 22-year-old Stanford alumnus wants to do one thing this year for his home island: light it up. Wilson, who graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in Electrical Engineering, said that one of the issues facing typhoon victims is the lack of power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy grandmother was using candles and a lantern to get around her house, and like many CNMI residents, she would not get electricity for months,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter speaking with my mother, I decided that we should send her a solar-powered light so that she would never have to buy gas or batteries, which are scarce and expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After further research on the matter, Wilson, who resides in New Mexico, came across LuminAID PackLite, a solar-powered inflatable light made specifically for disaster situations.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0The light is waterproof, durable, and after being charged with only seven hours of full sunlight, can put out up to 30 hours of light, according to Wilson.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The device, he said, was used in past natural disasters such as the 2011 Japan tsunami and the 2015 earthquake in Nepal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now, Wilson is behind the \u201cLight Up Saipan\u201d fundraising campaign, which aims to bring LuminAID lights to the island.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough this fundraising effort, I would be able to bring LuminAID lights to families in isolated areas who do not have the means to buy flashlights, batteries, or lamps,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wilson had already received tremendous support. United4Saipan, a local grassroots volunteer group, agreed to partner with him in distributing the LuminAID packs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So far, Wilson has fundraised $1,425 of his goal of $5,000 on a GoFundMe page: www.gofundme.com\/lightupsaipan. He plans on sending the light packs to Saipan by next week Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I first watched the YouTube video that Sveta Hunter uploaded, I was nearly brought to tears. I had driven through most of the roads from the video exactly a year ago when I last visited the island and I could not believe what I was seeing. The aftermath was much worse than I thought it would be,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter Typhoon Soudelor hit and listening to the stories of my family and others on the island suffering through its aftermath, I knew that I had to do my part in helping the island recover,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His family and friends from around the globe as well as Bosque School, Liberty Power Corp., and Ambassador Ali\u2019ioaiga Feturi Elisaia from Samoa have contributed to the cause.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring a difficult situation that affects everyone around you, the best thing you can do is to reach out and help your neighbor,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor\u2019s note: Saipan Tribune\u2019s latest series features everyday heroes who are taking part in recovery&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":209930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6915,6916,6917,38],"class_list":["post-209905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-blane-taisacan-wilson","tag-electrical-engineering","tag-liberty-power-corp","tag-saipan-tribune"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}