{"id":3435,"date":"2012-02-16T06:54:36","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T06:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newspaper.ctsi-logistics.com\/?p=3435"},"modified":"2012-02-16T06:54:36","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T06:54:36","slug":"musician-donates-1k-to-mount-carmel-make-a-wish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/musician-donates-1k-to-mount-carmel-make-a-wish\/","title":{"rendered":"Musician donates $1K to Mount Carmel, Make A Wish"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Clarissa David
\nReporter<\/div>\n

\"Local\u00a0 Local musician John Aldan Ichihara donated on Monday a percentage of his sales of his Christmas album that he recorded with his daughter, Roselle Ichihara Carreon.<\/p>\n

Ichihara and Carreon presented a $500 check each to Mount Carmel Cathedral and the Make A Wish Foundation.<\/p>\n

Ichihara’s Island Family Productions produced and released Kantan Ni\u00f1u: Season’s Greetings Here Again, which features 10 Christmas songs in English and Chamorro.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to give back to the community and this is one way of using my talent,\u201d Ichihara, who has been a musician for over 40 years, told Saipan Tribune in an interview.<\/p>\n

Ichihara, who made a donation last year to the NMI Japan Disaster Relief following the March tsunami and earthquake, said he chose the Make A Wish Foundation to be the recipient because he likes what they are doing to make children’s wishes come true.<\/p>\n

He also selected the Mount Carmel Cathedral as a recipient since he helped another church, the San Vicente Church, last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to donate more but it’s hard when people don’t buy the CD so we thank everybody in the community who helped us. We really appreciate them going out of their way despite the economic conditions of the island. A very big thank you from the bottom of our hearts,\u201d said Ichihara.<\/p>\n

Carreon, a teacher at Oleai Elementary School, said the Christmas album was a way for her and her father to share with the rest of the community the bond they have through music.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love my dad so much and he’s given me the gift of music. I wanted to help my dad fulfill his dream and I truly support him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A member of the San Vicente choir, Carreon believes that music is a universal language that unites people together. \u201cIt’s a way of expressing ourselves and being able to touch someone else,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Carreon also expressed her appreciation to all those who bought their CD and allowed them to donate to worthy causes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith everything that’s happening in our economy right now, the purpose of this CD is not to make money but to share the music,\u201d she said. \u201cThank you to everyone who’s listened to it and enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fr. Ryan P. Jimenez thanked Ichihara for \u201cusing one’s talent for God’s greater glory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really appreciate the gesture,\u201d said Jimenez, adding that the donation will be added to the funds they have so far raised for the overall maintenance of the cathedral.<\/p>\n

Angela Yamashita-Santos, Saipan board member of the Make A Wish Foundation, also expressed her gratitude to the Ichihara family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s with the good hears of the people who donate to our organization that we’re able to grant the wishes of our children with life-threatening illnesses and make their lives a little bit happier, a little bit sweeter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ichihara disclosed that he has plans to record all his original songs in one greatest hits album, the proceeds for which will also be donated to another organization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Clarissa David Reporter \u00a0 Local musician John Aldan Ichihara donated on Monday a percentage…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3435","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=3435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}