FILE PHOTO : MBOPA President Tuatagaloa Aumua Ming Leung Wai with St. Joseph’s College athletic legend , Louis Chan Tung, standing before the ‘Next Generation Ford Raptor’ pickup truck offered as the main raffle winning prize last year 2022.
By Staff Writer
Cash cheques that adds up to $110,000 tala will be handed out to the Marist Brothers Order this week to help cover school budgets for the Mulivai Primary School and St. Joseph’s College, Alafua.
The funding was raised by the Marist Brothers Old Pupils Association (MBOPA) from its 2022 Independence Mega Raffle for a ‘Next Generation Ford Raptor ‘ pick-truck as the main winning prize.
MBOPA is also helping out two Orders of Catholic nuns from the same raffle proceeds by making out a cheque for $5,000 to help the Little Sisters of the Poor run the Mapuifagalele Home for the Aged.
The Carmelite Sisters at Vailima are to be presented with a $3,000 cheque.
The MBOPA raffle continued a yearly fundraising commitment by former students to help meet the development needs of education run by the Catholic Order.
The raffle was their only fundraising for the whole of last year 2022 whereas the year before 2021 none was taken.
“We did not have any fund-raising activity so as not to get in the way of the 65th anniversary for St. Mary’s College,” a MBOPA statement explained at the time last year.
Ford Motors and Vodafone were behind the MBOPA fundraising drive in support of what they appreciated as a worthy cause.
“With the guidance of our Lord Jesus Christ and the support of our sponsors, families, friends and volunteers this raffle would not have been successful,” MBOP President Tuatagaloa Aumua Ming Leung Wai offered in gratitude for all the support.
St. Joseph’s College, Marist Brother Mulivai and Ulimasao in Savai’i are all run by the Catholic Brothers.