Close to 40 members of the Vaimoso Methodist Church held a fundraising event on Monday morning to raise funds for their taulaga (offering) next month.

The church's youth members gathered in front of the church pastor's house at Vaimoso at 6am on Monday morning and walked to the Tuanaimato park area as part of a walkathon fundraiser.

Vaimoso Methodist Church youth group president, Tovine Fata Eli, told the Samoa Observer that the walkathon is part of their fundraising program for their taulaga.

She said they expect to raise $2,000 tala from the walkathon fundraiser that was held on Monday morning.

"I would like to say thanks for the coverage of our fundraising event. This is the Vaimoso Methodist youth, we planned fundraising for our Taulaga in November this year and also for our youth project," Ms. Eli said in an interview.

"After our walkathon today, we collect $2,000 tala from the fundraising and there is another program where we have games to celebrate this White Sunday public holiday."

While rain early in the morning threatened to derail their planned walkathon, the president they were still about to complete the route by making it all the way to Tuanaimato. 

"We started walkathon but there was rain, but we were able to complete the walkathon despite the bad weather this morning," Ms. Eli added.

"It is good for us to gather and the message for us this holiday is for our families and friends to get together on public holiday to celebrate the day."

The walkathon on Monday morning is the first major fundraising event for the church youth group. 

The Vaimoso Methodist Church has more than 30 families serving the church and more than 400 individuals who describe themselves congregation members. The congregation in June this year officially opened their new church with its construction costing over $1.5 million.

• Samoa Observer Photographer Rashmi Lameta contributed to this report.