New Beginnings to host annual Walk for Water event
BY DANI TIETZ
dani@mahometnews.com
Chances are it just took a short walk to the faucet to get clean water today.
But for many people around the world, it takes walking a few miles both ways just to get unclean water.
Mahomet community members can help change that, though.
On Saturday morning New Beginnings Lutheran Church will host the fifth annual Walk for Water at 10 a.m., with registration beginning at 9 a.m. The event is located at the River Bend Forest Preserve.
Lunch from Bourbon Smoke BBQ will be served at approximately 11:30 a.m. at either the Pavilion at River Bend or at the Church, depending on the weather.
The event is about more than a symbolic trek to highlight what people in some other countries do to get water, though. The fundraiser also provides funds to Water Missions, a non-profit corporation in North Charleston, S.C., which helps improve the quality of life through access to water in African Villages.
New Beginnings Lutheran Church Pastor Allan Oman saw what a Living Water Treatment machine could do for a Village of 3,000 to 5,000 people at a meeting a few years ago. He said water is something many take for granted.
Oman said that not only is the quality of water some people work to get each day unclean, but also along the way to the water source, animal and human predators are threats.
By helping to raise funds, Oman feels that the Mahomet community can help alleviate some of the dangers people face.
“When the Living Water Treatment plant was installed (in an African Village), the health of the village improved so much that the clinic closed in that village and moved on to another village,” he said. “The Living Water treatment plant also allows children to go to school instead of spending the day getting water.”
Once a water treatment machine is installed in a village, the members receive training in how to run and maintain the plant, instructions on hygiene and general health. Oman said the plant often becomes a micro-business within the village, too.
Walk for Water participants can register at http://events.
Online donations can also be made here.
