{"id":259875,"date":"2017-09-08T06:04:57","date_gmt":"2017-09-07T20:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=259875"},"modified":"2017-09-08T06:04:57","modified_gmt":"2017-09-07T20:04:57","slug":"marines-joins-konqer-cause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/marines-joins-konqer-cause\/","title":{"rendered":"Marines joins KONQER for a cause"},"content":{"rendered":"
United States Marine Corps Maj. Timothy Patrick, right, and Gunnery Sgt. Donnie McClester, left, join Saipan Chamber of Commerce executive director Jill Arenovski and coordinator Christine Tadeo for a group photo after discussing the Toys For Tots program. (Jon Perez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

United States Marine Corps Maj. Timothy Patrick and four other Marines will be using tomorrow\u2019s KONQER Saipan King of the Hill to highlight their latest community project, Toys For Tots.<\/p>\n

The obstacle course race starts at 9am at Fiesta Resort & Spa and heads toward the Gov. Eloy S. Inos Peace Park where various challenges await individuals competing in the Enduro, Completion, Business, and Sprint categories.<\/p>\n

Patrick and four other Marines will compete individually in the morning before forming a team for the afternoon race. Organizers allow participants who compete individually to form or join a team and do the entire course again.<\/p>\n

Patrick and company are encouraging members of the community to do their share and donate new and unwrapped toys for kids of all ages. They are going to set up a donation box in the venue while Gunnery Sgt. Donnie McClester will be given the chance to explain the project.<\/p>\n

Gunnery Sgt. Justin Park, Lance Cpl. Samuel Brusseau, and Community Liaison Officer Uriah Perez joined Patrick and McClester in the cause when they met with Saipan Chamber of Commerce executive director Jill Arenovski yesterday at the SCC office at the Marianas Business Plaza. Patrick said they are teaming up with the SCC and Saipan Young Professionals for the project. The USMC has also thrown its 100 percent support for their participation in KONQER and for the Toys For Tots project.<\/p>\n

Patrick was among the 40 Marines that participated in the race in Peleliu and Koror in Palau on June 10 and 11 this year. One of the USMC teams finished second in the Relay Sprint division with a time of 3:14:12, while Patrick won the Solo Sprint category at 3:28:47.<\/p>\n

He said KONQER Sports\u2019 race in Palau was special to the USMC because of its historical significance in World War II. Peleliu was the site of Operation Stalemate II where the 1st Marine Division and the U.S. Army\u2019s 81st Infantry Division fought Japanese soldiers to capture an airstrip that strengthened the Allies\u2019 offensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were invited to join the race and we decided to compete since Peleliu shares a deep history with the Marines. It is the site of one of the important battles of World War II where we needed to change our tactics against Japanese forces,\u201d said Patrick.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has an enormous impact for us and the entire unit is excited to hit the obstacle course in Peleliu. A historian joined us and he also competed while at the same time filled us with details of the history of each site as we go along the way,\u201d Patrick said.<\/p>\n

He added they are expecting the obstacle course on Saipan is almost the same as the one in Palau.
\n\u201cVolunteers and others who would monitor the participants are some of the things needed to have an effective race. We\u2019re expecting the same, but we must also be prepared for some surprises. We\u2019re hoping that it would be challenging for us. The tougher, the better,\u201d he added with a smile.<\/p>\n

Toys For Tots<\/strong>
\nMcClester said the Toys For Tots program is now on its eighth year in Guam and 70th year in the world. The program encourages communities\u2014business, individuals, and organizations\u2014to do their share in gathering toys for less fortunate kids in time for the holiday season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just helping coordinate this on Saipan. We\u2019re going to actively stop the program on Dec. 14 but we\u2019re still going to accept donations for next year. We\u2019re accepting toys for different age groups,\u201d added McClester.<\/p>\n

Various non-profit organizations\u2014like Karidat and the Salvation Army\u2014will be the recipients of the toys and they will be tasked to give the gifts to kids.<\/p>\n

Patrick said Saipan is the farthest reached by the program. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome might wonder why give a toy? Every child deserves a toy during Christmas and the holiday season. You can\u2019t replace the look and the feeling of the children as they unwrap their gift and that makes it more special,\u201d Patrick said.<\/p>\n

Arenovski said that they would also coordinate with other local organizations, like the Rotary Club of Saipan and the Soroptimist International Club NMI Chapter about the project. \u201cEveryone can donate freely. So we could reach many kids.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

United States Marine Corps Maj. Timothy Patrick and four other Marines will be using tomorrow\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":259885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[18242,163,319,18243],"class_list":["post-259875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-gunnery-sgt","tag-kids","tag-palau","tag-usmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259875","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\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}