{"id":242641,"date":"2016-12-16T06:00:47","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T20:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=242641"},"modified":"2016-12-16T06:00:47","modified_gmt":"2016-12-15T20:00:47","slug":"group-gives-away-150-gift-bags-christmas-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/group-gives-away-150-gift-bags-christmas-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Group gives away 150 gift bags in Christmas Run"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_242643\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-242643\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Matua1-300x169.jpg\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-242643\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matua Riders pose with children and staff of the Children\u2019s Pediatric Ward and Nursing stations at the Commonwealth Health Center during the group\u2019s annual Christmas Spirit Bike Run in Garapan on Dec. 10. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Matua Riders Motorcycle Club distributed 150 gift bags around the island for this year\u2019s Christmas Spirit Bike Run.<\/p>\n<p>The bike run made several stops this year, from the Man\u2019amko Center and the Children\u2019s Pediatric Ward and nursing stations at the hospital, to Karidat Social Services and families at the Garapan Annex and Koberville Estate.<\/p>\n<p>Marie Salas-Igitol, who is secretary of MRMC, said, \u201cThe holiday is a source of happiness, the time to connect with people we often do not see so much during the year, to celebrate with those we love and cherish and remember those that are no longer with us. \u2026Although the holiday does not provide everyone with the warmth and joy that it does for me, I believe that the spirits of compassion and giving become even more important to share with those we encounter that aren\u2019t feeling the love.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A total of 150 gift bags were filled with stuffed animals and goodies for the children at the Children\u2019s Pediatric Ward and children at the housing areas. On top of that, 81 fruit basket arrangements were given away\u201476 to the mam\u2019amko as well as a $500 donation and two gift certificates from Kanoa Resort for the December man\u2019amko king and queen. Five fruit baskets and five fruit bags were also given to each nurse\u2019s stations at the hospital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt doesn\u2019t take a huge gesture to share the season; sometimes the smallest acts carry the biggest weight. Having said that, I am forever grateful to our club members, the businesses who generously donated and supported us, and the volunteers for without them our Christmas Run would not have been made possible,\u201d Igitol said.<\/p>\n<p>Rita Indalecio Reyes, president of the man\u2019amko, said, \u201cI feel very grateful for the Matua Riders. It\u2019s not just the items they bring to us; it\u2019s the thought behind it. Plus they spend time with us year after year and to me, that means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Matua Riders Motorcycle Club distributed 150 gift bags around the island for this year\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":242643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11869,11494,9137,14680],"class_list":["post-242641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-matua-riders","tag-mrmc","tag-pediatric-ward","tag-rita-indalecio-reyes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242641","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=242641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}