Today is World Water Day.
It’s a day marked by the United Nations to bring attention to the great importance and need for water, sanitation and hygiene, as 1 in 10 people lack access to clean water or a toilet, according to teamworldvision.org.
For more than 770 million people, water is too far away to easily drink, bathe, cook or clean.
On World Water Day, clean water is just a click away. You can be part of a World Vision family that is reaching one new person with clean water every 10 seconds.
World Vision is a global Christian humanitarian organization that partners with children, families and their communities to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice, according to worldvision.org.
It’s the largest nongovernmental provider of clean water in the world. In 2022, the organization helped establish lasting access to clean water for more than 3 million people, improved sanitation for 2.7 million and equipped 3.4 million with access to household handwashing facilities.
Seymour resident Tim Ferret is among the members of Team World Vision participating in the World Water Day initiative. He decided to do a 6K each day for 28 days, ending today.
He has been spreading the word about his efforts on social media and by direct messaging friends and family in hopes they will help him help people have access to clean water.
Starting at 9 a.m. today, any donations made on his fundraising page, teamworldvision.org/participant/tferret, will be doubled thanks to a fundraising challenge.
Generous fans of World Vision’s water work pledged $700,000 nationally for a World Water Day Challenge. The impact can be doubled today until challenge funds are met.
That could result in giving 20,000 people life-changing clean water.
“If I can get 28 friends and family and people who hear my story to give $100, $2,800 — that matches the 28 days that I’ve been doing this initiative — it’ll get doubled into $5,600 at the end of it, and each family or person is able to say they brought clean water for life to two kids,” Ferret said.
It takes $50 to bring water for life to an individual in the undeveloped world, he said.
“I feel like that’s an ask that people will be drawn to and will respond to say, ‘Hey, $100 is not $1,000. It’s not an unreasonable amount, and look what that will do,’” Ferret said. “It’s sponsoring two kiddos, but if it gets doubled and they give in time on World Water Day, it will turn into four kids.”
When Ferret, his wife, Annie, and their sons, Bauer and Maizen, moved to Seymour nearly six years ago, they were introduced to Team World Vision through their church, The Point in Seymour.
In the spring of 2019, they joined The Point’s Global 6K, and they have been involved with it each year since. Ferret said the $50 registration fee turns into money for clean water.
“We’ve done it every spring. Our kids do it with us. That’s very easy for people just to get awareness of the global water crisis,” he said. “It’s something that our church participates in every spring and tries to bring community members into it and family and friends and all of that.”
The church also has a team of people who raise money for Team World Vision and don the signature orange and white jerseys during the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. This year, that’s set for Oct. 28.
Ferret’s first time participating in that was 2020, which was virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He plans to do the half-marathon again this year.
Training will start in the summer, but because he already committed to joining the team, there are different fundraising opportunities that come along with World Vision ahead of the race.
One is for World Water Day. Ferret chose to do 28 days of 6Ks because World Vision launched the initiative 28 days before World Water Day and 6K is 3.7 miles, which is the average distance that women and children walk in the undeveloped world for water.
“Often, dirty water that’s just surface water, been sitting there stagnant and not typically healthy for them, can lead to lots of health issues and even death unfortunately,” he said. “That’s the chosen distance that World Vision uses to bring imagery to the global water plight around the world.”
The runners were encouraged to move every day of their fundraiser.
“It just struck me that ‘Hey, if they are doing it every day to get water just to survive and it’s not even great for their health and I want to help them in that and kind of come alongside them in solidarity, I’ll do that same distance for 28 days,’” Ferret said. “If we move our feet and fund raise while we run, then maybe they won’t have to walk 3.7 miles to get dirty water.”
Some days, he has been able to get outside and run. Other days, he has moved inside his house or on a stationary bike.
“The first night that the initiative started, my wife was out of town, I had our boys alone at home and I walked in our living room and kitchen,” he said. “Our house is not very big, our kitchen and living room are not very big, but I knew I wanted to get in the distance, and so I just walked back and forth and did circles in my house. I’ve had to do that on occasion just to make it happen, whenever I’m able to fit it in each day.”
Sometimes, that has been early in the morning. Sometimes, it has been before dinner or late at night.
“I just don’t think I can go to bed if I can still do something to again show that solidarity and to be able to have a daily post with my social media to show this is my commitment,” Ferret said. “Thus far, I’ve been able to achieve the distance every single day in some way.”
After today, Ferret said he may take a break until the training season starts in the summer for the October race.
“Honestly, I’m not a runner. My wife, Annie, is the runner in the family,” he said. “But I definitely believe in the mission of bringing clean water to people around the world.”
The mission is what keeps him going.
“For me, it’s what Team World Vision has meant to our family,” Ferret said, noting Annie joined the Team World Vision staff part time in August 2021 and became the full-time area director for the Indianapolis region in November 2022.
“She’s obviously very passionate about it. She’s excellent at her job of mobilizing churches and runners and helping raise money for clean water,” Tim said. “But for me personally, it has just been exciting to see it become a family thing. Our boys, when we talk about moving our feet and why we are going out on a run, they can respond pretty quickly that we do it for clean water.”
Tim said his wife has a saying of “We’re trying to make it so that moms like her and kids like ours don’t have to go and walk for dirty water.”
“Our family bleeds Team World Vision orange,” Tim said. “A lot of people have their sports teams and they have their different passions in life. For our family, ending the global water crisis has really become a family passion.”
As long as he’s able, Tim said he will run and fund raise each year.
“It definitely feels like what little I can do, I ought to be doing,” he said, “because it really doesn’t take that much to do so much good for those around the world.”
On the Web
To donate to Tim Ferret’s Team World Vision fundraiser, visit teamworldvision.org/participant/tferret or scan the QR code.
