Havreites walk and run for water

Havre resident April Taber led a team in the 6K for Water race in Havre Saturday, raising $1,835 as part of a global event intended to collect donation to help provide clean water to under-developed countries and raise awareness about the issue.

The 6K for Water event, run by WorldVision, a Christian humanitarian aid organization, sees more than 500 teams around the world traveling six kilometers, the average length women and children must walk to get water in many of the countries they seek to help - water that is likely contaminated.

Taber said the event went well and she wanted to thank everyone who participated or donated.

She said $50 can provide a person in one of these countries with clean water and every little bit helps.

"That's 36 people with clean water," she said of the donations she received.

The World Health Organization reports that 785 million people lack even a basic drinking-water service, including 144 million people who are dependent on surface water, and at least 2 billion people who use a drinking water source that is contaminated.

Studies conducted by WHO indicate that thousands of people die every day from maladies caused by contaminated water.

Taber said the organization will still be accepting donations through June and if anyone is still interested in donating they can go to https://www.teamworldvision.org and donate to her team, or to anyone on the team they happen to know.

Participants gathered Saturday morning at the Baltrusch Walking Trail entrance, where prizes were raffled off to participants, with nearly everyone winning something, which Taber was happy for.

Racers wore orange, the signature color of WorldVision, and were given necklaces and bells in the same color to commemorate the event.

Among those participants were Havre Community Alliance Church Pastors Lori and Munya Takawira.

Lori Takawira said she and her husband got many younger people from their church groups to participate and help address an international issue.

Takawira said she hopes they will be able to participate next year as well.

Taber has been participating in the event as a team leader for three years.

She said she's sponsored a child through WorldVision since 2014 but she wanted to have a greater affect on the issue.

She said, her efforts have not been as successful as she hoped, but she's glad she's been able to do something.

"I just wanted to have chance to be more involved and I thought it would bring an activity to the community and hopefully get more people involve," she said. "Unfortunately, it hasn't really done that, I haven't had a lot of luck in the community, but I still feel like I'm doing something in the grander scheme of things."

Last year, Taber had to hold the event virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and she said she had far fewer participants than this year or in 2019, though she still managed to raise $2,255.

"I still raised money last year, but it wasn't as much as I had hoped," she said.

The previous year, her first as a team leader, she managed to raise $2,675 and had 38 participants.

She said she isn't sure how things will go next year, but she's hoping for more participation.

Taber said she suspects people see the $50 registration fee for the race, which she said is high compared to many other races, and are turned off by it, but she wants to impress upon people that the race is merely a vessel for the larger cause.

"It's not about the race at all, it's about the water," she said.

Taber also extended her thanks to Aquatana and Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods for donating food and water to the event, as well as every local business that donated prizes to the raffle.

These businesses included The Infinity Bake Shoppe, 406 Cafe, Fat Billy & the Boyz BBQ, Nalivka's, Murphy's Pub, Henny Penny Cupcakes, Bow & Marrow, Massage Euphoria and Dairy Queen.