On October 8 hundreds of Chicagoans will participate in the 40th Chicago Marathon as part of World Visions fundraiser for clean water, worldvision.org/our-work/clean-water.
Former Naperville pastor Steve Spears quit his job to focus on raising $1.5 million to provide clean water for 30,000 individuals living in Kenya. In 2013, after only briefly being a long-distance runner, he embarked on a run across America, averaging a marathon a day for five months.
Last year I heard Spears speak. I was amazed at his feat, his stories of perseverance and almost defeat. He had met Kenyans whose lives he wanted to impact and their faces and stories kept him going.
In many parts of Africa, girls spend a large part of their day going to the nearest source of water for their families. Girls as young as three carry gallons of water up to several miles. We in the U.S. are used to clean drinkable water every time we turn on the tap (even though we seem to prefer bottled water). The water these girls bring to their families is usually polluted. Today, 900 million people lack access to safe water and 6000 children die each day from diarrheal diseases caused by unsafe water.
Making clean water available from nearby wells allow these girls time to go to school and ensure that they and their families will live longer healthier lives.
Spears selfless drive for clean water for World Vision continues to grow. After I heard him speak a call went out for others to join him this year. My neighbor was one. Isabel was not a serious runner, but she signed on to run and raise funds. I asked her why and she said, “Money sometimes does not help, but every dollar for clean water makes a big difference.”
For more info, see Chicagoans who said YES to clean water at www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC79kJe0ZT4.