Changing Lives One Drop At A Time- NWA Water: Walk

While I currently do not live in Northwest Arkansas I still love and, when I am able to do so,am involved in a several things within the community.  Northwest Arkansas has so many great things to offer for anyone from fun family events to very active organizations that are changing many things in the surrounding community and on an even greater scale, the world.

One of the newest organizations is one that I am very very excited about.  This organization has a strong mission to change things in the world.

The organization is Northwest Arkansas Water and their NWA Water: Walk event.

Gracie and Jacob Martin

NWA Water began in January of 2012. It started by a group of people in the NWA community who simply caught a vision and passion  to change things for those in developing countries who were not afforded the opportunity to have clean drinking water.  This group of people includes people from NWA that are from all walks of  life; a missionary, business owners, stay at home moms, bankers, and students representing several colleges in the NWA area.

Two of my very dear friends Jacob and Gracie Martin really fueled the fire of this organization to become a real movement.  They both have an infectious drive to challenge the surrounding community to come together to change the world in practical ways.  This is one of the things that I love most about these two.   Their passion  has caused myself and many others around them to catch the passion for this cause.  There were many others who fueled the flame of this idea becoming something amazing.  They are all people who have taken up responsibility for the mission of the organization in order to see lives changed.  Along with many others, Matthew Thurman, President and Jenae Blackstone, Financial Manger, have also taken on these roles and put in many hours of their lives in order to ensure that NWA Water continue to impact the community and change the world.

  Their over arching goal is to mobilize Northwest Arkansas to bring sustainable, clean drinking water to communities in developing nations.  The are partnered with charity water, ( www.charitywater.org you can go to charity water’s site to learn more about how they use the funds), which is a New York based organization that helps plant clean drinking wells in developing countries.  Charity Water does this based on donations and with the total of 5, 000 dollars one clean well will be built in a developing nation.  This well will provide clean drinking water to at least 500 people for life.   It is truly so simple and yet such a powerful way to change the world.

You may ask, why water… This quote from the organization may help answer that question.

“Developing nations are struggling daily to provide drinking, bathing, and washing water for their families. Trying to survive on as little as 5 gallons of water each day (carried in jerry cans weighing about 40 pounds), struggling families travel up to 3 hours from their homes to collect water that is usually from a contaminated water source. The water they do collect contains bacteria that causes diarrhea, dehydration, and death. Every minute, 3 people worldwide die from lack of access to clean water. At that rate of death, it would take less than 4 months to eliminate the entire population of Northwest Arkansas. It is nwa water: walk’s belief that as a community, Northwest Arkansas can make a measurable, global difference.”

NWA Water is attempting to raise 10,000 dollars this year to provide two wells to developing areas.  They believe that through each drop of water from a clean well that lives will be drastically changed.

The way in which NWA Water is  trying to raise the funds is through a once a year walk and then other non-walk events.  They have already completed one walk this year.  On April 28th of 2012 NWA Water: Walk held their first walk at Lake Fayetteville in Fayetteville Arkansas in which they raised 3,786.00.  For the walk they encrouaged that people sponsor the walkers with a 20$ donation.   On the day of the walk those who had been sponsored walked about half a mile and carried jerry cans of water of differing weights to raise awareness of the many women and young girls who do this very task each day in developing areas.  It was a great event this April and they intend on holding the walk every spring.  NWA Water is looking towards hosting another non-walk event before the end of the year but in between the walk in the spring and the next event anyone can get more involved by continuing to donate funds to the project of the first well being built or becoming involved with the team of people who are continuing to develop this organization.

This is a great and powerful way to involve the community surrounding you and change some precious lives in developing nations.  If you would like more information about NWA Water you can check them out at;

www.mycharitywater.org/nwawaterwalk

Email: nwawaterwalk@gmail.com

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/nwawaterwalk

Logo created by Jacob Martin of NWA Water

Pictures were taken and provided by Keegan Ware of Keegan Ware Photography