World Vision and Delta Air Lines partner to bring water to children around world

SEATTLE (May 5, 2017) — World Vision is pleased to announce its partnership with Delta Air Lines in Seattle as part of its Global 6k for Water event. On Saturday, May 6, 2017, people from around the globe will walk or run 6 kilometers for an extraordinary cause – bringing clean water to children and their families around the world.

“Partnering with the communities we serve is core to Delta,” said John Caldwell, Delta’s Vice President–Seattle. “Everyone deserves access to clean water, and Delta is proud to be the official airline of World Vision’s Global 6k for Water in Seattle and to help advance their mission to provide clean water for communities worldwide.”

The distance is significant. 6 kilometers (approximately 3.7 miles – or 15 laps around a track) is the average distance people – usually women and girls – walk to get water for their families and homes in the developing world. Often, the walk is dangerous, children miss school, and the water is dirty.

As part of its partnership, Delta Air Lines is donating six round-trip tickets (four tickets for flights to the U.S. and Canada and two tickets for flights to Asia). The tickets will be given away before and after the start of the Global 6k for Water in Gas Works Park on Saturday, May 6. Anyone who visits the Child Sponsorship booth that day and submits an entry is eligible to win.

“Delta Air Lines has been the preferred airline partner for World Vision for the past five years, providing world-class flight services and corporate support for our staff throughout the United States with an extraordinary flight network and partners offering connections to Asia, Europe, and Africa,” said David Owens, Chief Business Development Officer and National Director for Foundations at World Vision. “We are excited to work together with them to mobilize even more Seattle residents to help us in the effort to bring clean water to children everywhere.”

Seattle runners and walkers can join World Vision and Delta Air Lines in-person at Gas Works Park at 9:00 a.m. on Race Day, or they can map a 6-kilometer route in their neighborhood and walk with family and friends! Each participant receives a Global 6k for Water t-shirt, a participants’ medal, and a race bib with a photo of the sponsored child that they’ll be walking or running for that day.

Participants will help transform the lives of women and children like 5-year-old Cheru from Kenya by freeing them from a life spent walking for dirty water. Every $50 registration fee will provide life-changing clean water to one person. (And thanks to our sponsors, children 15 and under can sign up for just $25!)

There is good news about the global water crisis. In 1990, 76 percent of the world had access to improved drinking water. Today, that number is nearly 91 percent and growing. But sadly, nearly 1,000 children under age 5 still die every day from diarrhea caused by contaminated water, poor sanitation, and improper hygiene. Clean water frees children from deadly diseases, liberates women and children from a life spent gathering dirty water, and opens the door to education, a promising future, and a full life.

Watch World Vision President Rich Stearns challenge other Seattle companies to join the Global 6k for Water, and register or learn more today by visiting WorldVision6k.org.

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Editor’s note: Photos and b-roll are available. Contact Laura Blank ([email protected], 646-245-2496).

Tweet this: .@WorldVisionUSA @Delta team up for the world’s biggest #6kforWater on May 6. Learn more and sign up here: http://bit.ly/2k4Dr09

About World Vision:
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization conducting relief, development, and advocacy activities in its work with children, families, and their communities in nearly 100 countries to help them reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. For more information, please visit www.WorldVision.org/media-center/ or on Twitter @WorldVisionUSA.