According to Sonia Siwa of PDM Inc., the Awaodori Team members and their parents started picking up trash from Winchell’s to Coral Tree Avenue and American Memorial Park.
Siwa said PDM conducts a regular cleanup in Garapan during the first Saturday of the month.
The Awaodori Team is also asking the community to support its coin drive at the Microl and Garapan intersections during the weekends to raise funds for seven members of the team who will be representing Saipan in the 25th Awaodori Festival in Koenji, Japan, this month.
“We are hoping the community can help us because Saipan will not only be represented in Japan for this big festival but this is also a good exposure for our Saipan team,” Siwa said.
Last year, they sent one child only because of financial constraints.
“We would have wanted to send as many children as we could, but we needed funds to pay for the kids’ airfare and accommodations in Japan,” Siwa said.
The Koenji Tokyo Awaodori Festival is held annually on the last Saturday and Sunday of August. This year it falls on Aug. 27-28.
The Saipan team will be a part of almost 200 groups and over 10,000 dancers who regularly join the second largest of all the Awaodori festivals held throughout Japan.
