Earlier this year, Sancta Maria College in Auckland were upgrading their classroom fixtures and had desks, chairs, books, Sound System, Sports Equipment and Materials to give away.  

They heard through one of the parents, who is the mother of their current Head Girl, Martina Kleis, and also an ex-student of St Mary’s College in Samoa, Mrs Helena Kleis, that St. Mary’s College in Samoa was badly affected by the recent Cyclone Gita and in desperate need of any help.  

Sancta Maria kindly donated the following materials.

Mrs. Kleis and her group, ‘86 Alumni of St Mary’s College Samoa, started fundraising immediately to try and come up with funds to ship the Donated furniture to Samoa. 

It was a huge undertaking because of the urgent need to move the stuff from Sancta Maria College to be shipped to Samoa as soon as possible. 

Unfortunately, any funds the ’86 Alumni group were able to raise did not quite meet the cost of shipping plus other required costs.

An application for assistance was sent to Matson South Pacific Company for a Container for a discounted cost if possible.  

Sir Michael Jones and his Board of Directors at Matson accepted the application with open arms and kindly granted a 20foot Container Shipping, hauling fees and other related costs all Free of Charge.

Because of the enormous amount of donated stuff from Sancta Maria College, there were remaining furniture after packing the 20foot container.  

Great Works Seki Works Ltd in Manukau came on board and granted Free of Charge space in one of their Containers for the remaining loose cargo.

The ‘86 Alumni St Mary’s College members, both in Auckland NZ and in Samoa, diligently worked together in this project and are very humbled and grateful for this great opportunity to give back to our school in Samoa.  

Sister Pele, Principal of St Mary’s College Samoa, was humbled and thankful when advised of the huge Donation from Sancta Maria College, just in time when most needed.

“We are honoured and sincerely grateful to the following people with their help made this project possible.

1) Sancta Maria College, of Auckland, New Zealand – Donated desks, chairs, PA system equipment, resource & library books and sports equipment;

2) Matson South Pacific Co, Auckland (Mr Greg Chu, Sir Michael Jones & Rhys Tracy-Inglis) – granted a 20 foot Container and associated costs -Free of charge;

3) Great Works Seki Works Ltd, Manukau Auckland (Maria Maliki) - granted space in one of their Containers for loose cargo and associated costs - Free of charge;

4) Ministry of Education Samoa- for their kind assistance;

5) Molida Shipping Ltd and BBE.”