Water. It is at the heart of a daily crisis faced by a billion of the world’s most vulnerable people—a crisis that threatens life and destroys livelihoods on a devastating scale.

Living Water International exists to demonstrate the love of God by helping communities acquire desperately needed clean water, and to experience "living water"—the gospel of Jesus Christ—which alone satisfies the deepest thirst.

Unlike war and terrorism, the global water crisis does not make media headlines, despite the fact that it claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns. Unlike natural disasters, it does not rally concerted international action, despite the fact that more people die each year from drinking dirty water than from the world’s hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes combined.

This is a silent crisis experienced by the poor, and tolerated by those with the resources, technology, and the political power to end it. Yet this is a crisis that is holding back human progress, consigning large segments of humanity to lives of poverty, vulnerability, and insecurity.

At Living Water International, they are addressing this most basic of needs by helping deprived communities acquire safe, clean water. Their goal is to substantially ease the global water crisis while addressing root causes such as injustice, oppression, and abject poverty. As this happens, communities and worldviews are transformed—both among those in desperate physical need, and among those who have been blessed with much.

Could you give up something you want, to help someone else get something they NEED?

We are taking the “WELL” DRESSED CHALLENGE to raise awareness and funds for LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL. What does that mean? We are committed to wear one dress for a personally chosen period of time and donating the funds we would normally spend on clothes to Living Water International to help them drill wells in Honduras and other developing countries.

Why did we decide to do this?

On a mission to trip to Honduras a year and a half ago, Angela had the amazing experience of visiting Mission of Mercy’s Children’s Schools. At the end of each day, they would go with some of the children back to their homes to see first-hand their living conditions and meet their parents or caregivers.

At the end of each family visit, they would ask the parent or caregiver, what it was that we could pray with them about; what was their biggest need. Inevitable, they would tell them they needed water. Water in their home or village would change everything, they were told.

Most villages had access to water by delivery only once a month. Because the parents or caregivers worked during the day (usually a single mother, a grandmother, or neighbor) it became the children’s responsibility to retrieve the water for the families daily needs: drinking, eating, washing school uniforms that are mandatory to attend school, etc… The parents and caregivers were extremely concerned for the safety of the children as they went to obtain water from faraway places because this task exposed them to gangs, rape, sex trafficking, and drugs; not to mention that the water they often brought home was in limited amounts and contaminated.

After each visit, Angela began to understand that water was not only the beginning of life but the beginning of change for these communities.

Get Involved!

• Project dates: October 2011-October 2012

• Join the "Well" Dressed Challenge. Visit our "Well" Dressed page for more information.

• Post your stories to our Facebook page or send them to mindyp@northwestministry.com so we can post them to out blog.

• Use your influence – Facebook or Tweet the Challenge to others and make a difference in the world by creating awareness.
  

• To donate, send monies to:
  Northwest Women's Department
  35131 SE Douglas St. Ste. 200
  Snoqualmie, WA 98065
  

95 cents of every dollar givien to the TWF, goes to our primary project (Living Water International) and our secondary project (LIFE). The other 5 cents helps the NWMN Women's Department continue to provide TWF resources to the churches and women of the Northwest Network.