The Samoa Offering Hope charitable trust has disbursed all the funds it received through generous donations from companies and donors in relief efforts to rehabilitate victims of a fire at the Flea Market.
A total of $70,645 tala was collected and handed out to flea market vendors yesterday.
The charitable trust ran for a month and attracted donors from Samoa as well as overseas.
Caretaker Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi applauded everyone including the Samoa Hotels Association.
"These are very important and very useful initiatives, because it is the proper usage of the newfound communication methods through social media," he stated.
"This I hope though, would not lead anyone else to burn down another place like this just for the benefits, that’s bad," he said.
The Samoa Tourism Authority spearheaded the charity.
Adele Kruse has been the leader in Samoa Offering Hope initiative and all she could say was a word of thanks to the kind donors for their input.
"This amount, seventy thousand is a lot of money. You don’t get that much money anywhere in a short period of time," she said.
She was responding to questions about whether the amount raised was not to the numbers expected.
"The greatest thing we can do is give thanks, because we got what we asked for from our donors, so all we have to do is give thanks," she added.
A fire at the Savalalo Flea Market in January caused extensive damage to one of Apia’s landmarks.