Highlights
- Thousands around world to participate in Global 6k for Water on May 6.
SEATTLE (March 22, 2017) – Thousands of walkers and runners around the world are tying up their tennis shoes for a good cause and joining the world’s biggest 6k walk for clean water – World Vision’s Global 6k for Water. 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.
“The Global 6k is a one-day, worldwide event uniting people for one amazing cause: clean water,” said Rusty Funk, World Vision’s Global 6k Race Director. “What could be better than walking together to help provide life-changing water for children in need? And every step we take together is one step they don’t have to.”
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.
Sign up is easy! You can map a route in your neighborhood, host a site with family and friends in your community, or create a virtual team with friends across the country. When you register, World Vision will send you a Global 6k for Water t-shirt, a participants’ medal, and a race bib with a photo of the sponsored child that you’ll be walking or running for that day. (And if you live in Seattle, Kansas City, or Detroit, you can join us in-person at one of our premiere race locations!)
Walk, run, or even push a stroller – however you cross the finish line, you’ll 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!)
“One of the great things about this event is that it doesn’t take super-human strength to walk or run six kilometers. Almost everyone can join us!” added Funk. “It’s a meaningful way to spend a Saturday morning with your friends or family, walking or running together for a good cause.”
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.
World Vision is the largest nongovernmental (NGO) provider of clean water in the developing world, bringing a new person clean water every 10 seconds as part of our full solution to end poverty. In 2015, World Vision provided access to clean water to 2.3 million people.
Register or learn more today by visiting WorldVision6k.org.