Competing for the MNT cause

By Julian Rosete

Key Club hosts their first ever MNT (Maternal Neonatal Tetanus) Olympics on Sunday March 31st.

“This is the first time Key Club has done the MNT Olympics, but hopefully it will become an annual event for our members,” says Key Club Publicist and MNT coordinator Emily Vu.

“It was an event that our fabulous MNT coordinators had been planning for a really long time, and seeing everyone participate and have a lot of fun at the event was pretty rewarding”, says Key Club president Kathy Ton

This event is for contestants to come out to compete and for spectators to come and watch. The event was run by MNT coordinators and Key Club officers at Cataldi Park. There will be many games for contestants to compete in such as three legged race, water balloon race, water toss and more.

“Our division goal for MNT was three thousand dollars and with the registration, raffle tickets and concessions sold at the event, MNT olympics pushed us over the three thousand mark,” says Kathy

The admission costed five dollars for those who chose to compete in the Olympics and three dollars for those who came to watch the event. All the money raised went to the Eliminate project to help fight the MNT disease.

MNT is a disease that causes mothers and newborn babies to experience convulsions and severe pain that can lead to involuntary death. This disease kills a baby every 15 minutes even though this could be prevented with three doses of vaccines that cost $1.80, according to Key Club. These vaccines can protect mothers and children for their rest of their lives.

The Eliminate project is a cause which not only helps to solve the MNT crisis, but also to provide clean water, nutrition’s and other vaccines. The overall goal of the Eliminate project is to raise 110 million dollars to support these causes.