Mt. Pleasant's Water Our Thirsty World draws 174 participants

Nearly 175 walkers gathered May 4 on the Mt. Pleasant town square to raise awareness and support for Global Water Issues.  Every day 5,000 children around the world perish because of illness caused by contaminated drinking water.

The event was designed to draw attention to water issues and to benefit Water Our Thirsty World, a new Mt. Pleasant non-profit that creates small devices that make chlorine and distributes them throughout the world. The chlorine produced is used to treat water that is collected from water sources such as ponds, rivers, puddles and wells, making it safe to consume.

Wednesday?s walkers raised over $10,000 for Water Our Thirsty World.  The majority of funds will be used to distribute devices to Africa and parts of Asia during the next year. A team of six is scheduled to take 20 devices to Ethiopia in just three weeks. These devices are supported directly from water walk funds. A small portion of the funds from Wednesday will also be used to establish a scholarship for an area student to travel with a distribution team next spring.

After the walk participants enjoyed a Christian Rock Concert performed by the band Remedy Drive, in the IWC chapel.

Marcia Baldridge, Water Our Thirsty World director, was amazed by the response to the walk. ?This was our first year putting something like this together and the response was tremendous. It was quite a visual to see people of all ages walk a mile, carrying 16 pounds of water, knowing that thousands of lives would be spared because of their efforts. That level of caring and action is simply incredible!?

Kendra Cook and her six year old daughter, Jocelyn,, a student at Van Allen Elementary, took part in the walk Wednesday. Cook says, ?I believe that raising awareness about this is really important.  As a mother, I can?t imagine what life would be like if I had to constantly worry about where to find water and whether or not it was ok for my daughter to drink.?

Event organizers included representatives from IWC?s Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement, Water Our Thirsty World, and local Mt. Pleasant merchants. Organizers hope to make the Water Walk an annual event. To learn more about Water Our Thirsty World log on to: www.ourthirstyworld.org.