The Samoa Independent Seventh Day Adventist Church (S.I.S.D.A.C.) has donated $100,000 tala to the Government to assist in the measles recovery effort.

A member of the church’s ministry of finance handed over the cheque on Tuesday to the National Emergency Operation Centre (N.E.O.C.) Chairman, and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (M.N.R.E.) Chief Executive Officer, Ulu Bismarck Crawley.

Australian-based Ata Tanuvasa, who is treasurer for the S.I.S.D.A.C., said he traveled to Samoa in order to personally present the cheque.

“Our donation has been waiting for us to come to sign and approve so we could present it to the Prime Minister and that’s why we came today,” he said.

“The Prime Minister told us that even though the measles may have gone down but they are still working towards helping the families who need help.”

Mr Tanuvasa said it is their hope that the donation will go towards helping those families affected by the measles epidemic, especially those who lost ones. 

“Our local church ministers discussed the donation and have agreed to give this amount to help our people in Samoa,” he added. 

The funding came from different parts of the church’s local funds. 

Attempts by the Samoa Observer to seek comments from the Office of the Prime Minister were unsuccessful at the time of going to press.