{"id":241485,"date":"2016-11-29T06:06:57","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T20:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=241485"},"modified":"2016-11-29T06:06:57","modified_gmt":"2016-11-28T20:06:57","slug":"death-chocolate-draws-wide-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/death-chocolate-draws-wide-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Death by Chocolate draws wide support"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Contestants<\/a>
Contestants of a cupcake decorating competition design their designated cupcakes during the Death by Chocolate fundraiser held by the CNMI Salvation Army at the Hyatt Regency Saipan on Nov. 26. (Michael T. Santos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Participants of the CNMI Salvation Army\u2019s first ever Death by Chocolate fundraiser at the Hyatt Regency Saipan last Saturday should expect a toothache real soon.<\/p>\n

The event, lasting from 11am to 4pm, entertained its guests with a silent auction, live performances by several bands, competitions among attendees, and raffle prizes.<\/p>\n

All proceeds for Death by Chocolate will be used to help fund the Salvation Army\u2019s soup kitchen and food bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a good turnout. A lot of folks showed up and sold quite a few tickets at the door and through our Facebook page. There were also wonderful donors who gave a lot of prizes,\u201d said Salvation Army pastor Wayne Gillespie. \u201cWe\u2019re just happy and grateful to those who bought tickets or donated to the event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several vendors were present on site, such as the Stamp and Coin Club and Bella\u2019s Box, as well as a guest appearance by first lady Diann Torres to inaugurate the Salvation Army\u2019s Red Kettle Season by making the first donation.<\/p>\n

Riya Nathrani, a volunteer, said, \u201cI think this event is the first in the CNMI. I think it\u2019s a great way to bring the community together, and everyone loves chocolate so it\u2019s a great way to make people collaborate and mingle with one another. There\u2019s also a lot of raffle prizes donated by different companies that I think entices people to come and take their chances while helping a great cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brandon Nyugen, an attendee, said, \u201cI really enjoy chocolate! The fact that there\u2019s a buffet for them was something I didn\u2019t think I would enjoy as much as I did. Plus there were competitions that made things seem a bit more lively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gillespie thanked all its donors, volunteers, and guests for the event, saying the Salvation Army hope to host another one next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we do another one next year, we hope it will be held in a bigger venue. We would also like to add new and interesting things for the guests to enjoy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Participants of the CNMI Salvation Army\u2019s first ever Death by Chocolate fundraiser at the Hyatt…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":241491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[233,67,14475,423],"class_list":["post-241485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-hyatt-regency-saipan","tag-people","tag-riya-nathrani","tag-salvation-army"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241485","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}