PORT ANGELES — We all take our water for granted in America. In much of the world, the fight for clean and safe water is literally a life and death struggle.
Toward that end, if you’re watching the June 3 North Olympic Discovery Marathon, you may catch a glimpse of 28 people wearing bright yellow T-shirts promoting Living Water International, a Houston-based Christian group that builds and repairs clean water wells in Latin America, Africa and Asia and also helps teach water hygiene in poor, rural areas.
A group based at Dungeness Community Church in Sequim is partnering with Living Water International to raise funds to help build and refurbish wells in Nicaragua.
Church members are running, walking and jogging at various lengths in the marathon to raise $10,000 for Living Water International.
Martin Murray is one of the organizers of the fundraiser and he’s been involved with Living Water International for years.
The organization has helped build or repair 19,000 wells around the world in 17 countries since 1990. The Dungeness Community Church group has raised funding for 20 water projects during the past six years. Murray and other church members traveled to Nicaragua in 2016 to drill a well.
“The lack of clean, safe water probably kills more people around the world than anything,” he said.
Murray said one of the impressive things about Living Water International is they focus on local projects using local resources.
“I’m really impressed with them. They do things the right way,” Murray said.
A total of 28 people have joined the local Living Water team and they have already raised $6,000, more than halfway to their goal. They’ve done this largely through friends, neighbors, coworkers and fellow church members.
One person on the team, Kim Mason of Port Angeles, plans to run a full marathon, while other members are running in the half-marathon, 10K and 5K races.
“We’re all getting excited. We’ve been working on this for months,” Murray said.
Living Water International encourages these sort of team efforts to raise funds at the local level, with the organization’s team director coming up to Washington from Houston to offer tips and advice. For instance, one group raised funds for the organization via a climb of Mount Rainier.
The money has been earmarked to build a new well in a rural area in northern Nicaragua. That alone will cost roughly $5,000. The remainder of the money raised will go toward refurbishing existing wells in Nicaragua.
In addition to building wells, Living Water International also works to raise awareness of the world’s clean water crisis.
In order to donate to the local Living Water International marathon group, you can contact Murray at 360-683-5433 or email at mjmurraymurray@msn.com.
