If you've ever had a plumbing problem where you had to go any length of time without it, you realize how handy it is to have water at your finger tips. We need it for cooking, bathing, laundry and nourishment, just to name a few. We are lost without that convenience. And I, for one, admit I take that for granted.
Did you know that women in Kenya (and many other countries) walk 7-8 miles round-trip to collect water, carrying 5-gallon containers on their heads? Who is this water for? Well, their families, their animals, and their husbands working in the grazing fields. They do this for them. And it isn't easy.
Yes!
I participated in a CROP (Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty) Hunger Walk today in Wisconsin Rapids to do my small part to help. These CROP walks are community-wide events sponsored by Church World Service and organized by local volunteers to raise funds to end hunger. A quarter of the money raised for each walk remains local -- for food pantries, etc -- and the rest is used around the world. Maybe providing food and water or maybe sending engineers to develop easier ways to access these resources.
And roped in Carter to walk with me -- for the life lesson. Anytime we can teach our "entitled" youth of today about how good they have it and how easy it is, really, to help others, we should!
One of the themes of these events is "We walk because they walk." The "they" could be those women walking 8 miles for their water or any number of impoverished classes of people.
For us, it turned out to be a glorious day for a walk. And our 2-mile route looping across the Wisconsin River on one bridge and crossing back on another, was nothing compared to countless miles barefoot in extreme heat. But I hope we all could relate to their hardships while realizing, once again, how easy it is to help people in need.
I didn't raise a lot of money in donations ahead of time, but every little bit helps. I think among our estimated 50 walkers today we raised more than $8,000. And they're still counting. What an incredible $2,000 gift to aid our local food pantry and "Neighborhood Table" free meal program. Every dollar really does make a difference!
If you want to learn more about the program, visit http://www.cwsglobal.org/. Who knows, there may be one in your community and you just didn't know about it. Or you could start one. Or support a similar effort. Either way, do something!
More than 200 million children will go to bed hungry tonight, and millions are at risk of malnutrition. Can we, who have the luxury of sitting at a computer writing or reading this, just sit back and do nothing?
How about just starting with a prayer... And see where that leads you.
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