{"id":238559,"date":"2016-10-17T06:00:11","date_gmt":"2016-10-16T20:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=238559"},"modified":"2016-10-17T06:00:11","modified_gmt":"2016-10-16T20:00:11","slug":"governors-toc-donates-50k-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/governors-toc-donates-50k-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor\u2019s TOC donates $50K to CARE"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_238570\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-238570\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/TOC-pix-300x200.jpg\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-238570\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Ralph DLG Torres is joined by Governor\u2019s Tournament of Champions chair Ben Babauta, DFS Saipan president Marian Aldan-Pierce, and Commonwealth Advocates for Recovery Efforts director Jenny Hegland during the turn over of $50,000 from proceeds raised through the Governor\u2019s Tournament of Champions to CARE last Friday at the Governor\u2019s Office. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Commonwealth Advocates for Recovery Efforts on Friday received a $50,000 donation from proceeds raised through the Governor\u2019s Tournament of Champions.<\/p>\n<p>According to TOC chair Ben Babauta for over 15 years the tournament\u2019s primary object was to raise funds to support beautification projects within the Commonwealth to support the tourism industry and provide much needed revenue to support the economy.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nDFS Saipan president Marian Aldan-Pierce expressed that CARE and long-term recovery efforts support the humanitarian needs of the Commonwealth as well as beautification and rebuilding of the community over a year after Typhoon Soudelor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince 1996, the focus had been on beautification to promote our visitors industry by enhancing our destination landscaping for the Paseo de Marianas, Port to Pathway, and Garapan Street Revitalization Project\u2013Coral Tree Avenue, and Mt. Tapochau. With revenues made available to the Marianas Visitors Authority through the hotel occupancy tax, the TOC board decided to focus on our partnership with CARE. At the same we have decided to move TOC from August to May to address the inclement weather often experienced during the rainy season,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Ralph DLG Torres reiterated that focusing on rebuilding our community is vital to our community and economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFunds donated to CARE address a much needed cause. We are grateful to all the donors and volunteers who remember the 341 families who need the assistance to help repair and rebuild their homes. I thank the TOC for their hard work and commitment to improving our community in every way possible,\u201d Torres said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>CARE director Jenny Hegland stated that the proceeds represent the financial support necessary for long-term recovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the Commonwealth, we care about all our families and $50,000 is a significant contribution. Rebuilding and repairing is costly and right now we provide $3,000 to each family for home rebuilding. In one month, we have been able to complete 11 major projects with our volunteers\u2026 We are taking beautification as rebuilding safe and sanitary homes for families\u2026\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The $50,000 donation will go towards supporting the necessities of members from the Mennonite and World Renew religious groups, who are currently repairing the damaged homes. (PR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Commonwealth Advocates for Recovery Efforts on Friday received a $50,000 donation from proceeds raised&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":238570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[477,7056,5385,1057],"class_list":["post-238559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-ben-babauta","tag-care","tag-jenny-hegland","tag-toc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238559","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\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}