Family gives up water, helps Edmond ministry to demonstrate need

A Phoenix family is turning off the water to their home for one week and instead hauling buckets of water from a health club to help an Edmond ministry.

Ken Surritte, president of Water Is Life, told me about the amazing gesture to raise awareness of the global need for clean water during World Water Day 2009 on Sunday.

Beginning Sunday, Mark and Kristine Bender and their two girls Picabo, 13, and Livvie, 10, will make the one-mile roundtrip trek each day to fulfill their water needs.

"The inspiration hit me one day after I’d left the garden hose on all day watering flowers,” Kristine Bender said. "That night, we determined to do something to show the crisis of the need for clean water around the world.”

Bender said the family members will blog about their experiences and share videos and pictures from the week without water. She said the water will go off at 5 p.m. Sunday and remain off until 5 p.m. March 29.

During the week, the Benders will ask for $10 donations to buy a water filter that hangs around a child’s neck and filters out bacteria that causes waterborne diseases. The water filters will be distributed in Kenya in August. Surritte said more than a million people will die this year from waterborne disease and as many as 4,500 children will die because they lack clean water.

To watch the family’s progress or for more information about World Water Day 2009 go to www.waterislife.com.