The ground breaking ceremony for the new American Red Cross American Samoa (ARCAS) building was held Thursday morning at their main compound in Tafuna with Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga present along with other government officials and members of the ARCAS. ARCAS board chairman Vaito’a Hans Langkilde said they will be building a 40x80 foot building and it will house an administration and multipurpose room.

“We hope to begin by Monday. We have been working with our contracting partners with Fletcher Construction coming onboard to assist us, along with Paramount Builders and Pacific Refrigeration,” said Vaito’a. He said in the days ahead, they will be coming out to the community to ask for help. “Our proposal is that this building be a community project. We want to label this project a partnership as everyone in the community is invited to participate, to assist us in the project,” he explained.

“By doing this, it will give a sense of ownership of this building for Red Cross to carry out its mission in serving the people in American Samoa in times of disaster,” he said.

“We are also getting some financial assistance from Red Cross National. Paramount Builders has offered to supply concrete with Fletcher offering to supply some foundation work. Those are some the cost situations that will be absorbed by our contracting partners. It is an interesting and exciting project that we will be working on — being able to find the money as we go along,” he explained.

He said he hopes that the building will be completed by the end of this year.