Good Samaritans donate to Fire Service

By Ilia L Likou 18 April 2018, 12:00AM

Tupuola Sione and wife, Fa’alogo Sissy Vuki, from St. George, Utah in America, presented $15,000 to the Fire and Emergency Service (F.E.S.A.) yesterday.

“On behalf of the Prime Minister, who is also the Minister for F.E.S.A. and the National Emergency Call Centre, the S.F.E.A. Board Chairman who could not be with us today due to work commitment overseas, Board Members Management and staff, I wish to convey our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for this very much needed and timely donation,” Board Member of F.E.S.A., Tuala Telea said. 

“You will understand that our Government works on a very limited budget and any assistance that we receive is appreciated.”  

“For your information, the One Emergency Number 911 housed under F.E.S.A. was an initiative by the Government and the authority to move away from previously operated three different emergency numbers to one particular emergency number.” 

“This is also aligned to other emergency services providers around the world. For the Government, the change to 911 among other things was to eliminate confusion by any reporting individual regarding what appropriate number to call at any particular emergency.”  

“Expedite responses by emergency services to minimise negative and to save lives. We are therefore very pleased to note that your concerns as raised and the idea behind your fundraising for the call centre and the emergency number 911 are the very purposes in which the government of Samoa and F.E.S.A. initiated this one emergency number.”

“We assure you that this kind donation will be put to good use particularly for equipment that the call centre urgently requires and you will be kept updated to ensure transparency in the usage of the funds donated. It is our hope that these equipment will assist to ensure that we provide effective and efficient emergency responses.”

“We pray that God will bless each and every person who donated to this fund and wish you well when you return to Utah.”

The donation yesterday was nothing new for Faalogo and husband Tupuola Sione Vuki, who have been silently injecting over $150,000 in the last decade to help schools and communities in Samoa.

Yesterday, they announced further help for F.E.S.A. and supporting services.

“We hope that this programme will continue to grow as my husband mentioned that we are looking at making available scholarships to the firefighter’s, Police and other related sectors of emergency services children as we see there are not enough money from their salaries to help take their kids to school,” Faalogo said.

“So this year we have discussed requirements with the S.F.E.S.A. and Police for their children to earn scholarship as we all know education is the key to success and because when you save a generation it is also helping their future.”

By Ilia L Likou 18 April 2018, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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