TARD holds final meeting and coffee session with members yesterday

The To'abaita Authority for Research and Development (TARD) volunteer student group has convened its last 2006 general meeting for student members at the University of the South Pacific in Suva yesterday.

The official meeting which was followed by a light refreshment and coffee/tea session was held at the USPSA Conference room from 5-9pm.

The meeting was opened with a prayer from Paul Ramson and words of welcome by the chairman. After that there were updates from previous minutes and various progresses of certain community development plans that TARD is pursuing. Next was the arrangement and finalisation of proposed TARD Christmas activities in North Malaita. Some of the obvious programs include:
- Distribution arrangements for the medical supplies donated to North Malaita clinics by the Medical Aid Abroad New Zealand.
- Appointment of a steering committee to spearhead the North Malaita Christmas Games in December which will be free of charge for participating teams in North Malaita. The games that will be organized are soccer and netball. The committee is led by Alwyn Danitofea and Joyce Maetoloa with others such as Simon Mau, Lenny Konamauri, Matilda Dani and Lynly Galie.
- Small community meetings; special fundraisings for schools, clinics, and churches; and collection of data and surveys in rural villages.
- Launching of the TARD Initiative to rural communities in North Malaita.

After the meeting, there was a refreshment and coffee session whereby members and families were allowed to give short talks and encouragements. The North Malaita Cultural Group at USP which TARD is also affiliated to then used the meeting to acknowledge Luke Mani for availing his residence for fundraising activities in the past. He was presented with a thank-you cake and FJ$50 as a token of appreciation. The meeting was attended by members from USP, FSM and FIT.