Walking for Water

Amee Joshi and Gowri Sharma are UNICEF supporters and lead organizers for the first-ever Dallas Water Walk.

Dallas hosted its first ever UNICEF Tap Project Water Walk this past Saturday. The UNICEF Tap Project community event sought to raise awareness of and support for the world water crisis.

© Norry Niven Celebrating after successfully completing the water walk!

A dedicated organizing committee started planning for the event in January. Local businesses donated refreshments, sand, and other necessities to make the event a success.

© Norry Niven Ben Bautista and Evan Sussman walk the course with jugs filled with sand, in solidarity with the millions of children who spend hours each day fetching water.

On the day of the event walkers carried weighted jugs around a quarter mile path at a local park. Education was a key component of the walk. Signs with facts about water lined the route, and volunteers handed out stamps that introduced walkers to UNICEF and the work they do. Education tents were also set up, with interactive displays and videos on UNICEF’s work and the UNICEF Tap Project. Children were able to make a “drop in the bucket” by adding coins to canisters representing water in wells around Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

With the help of the organizing committee, regional U.S. Fund for UNICEF board members, and local UNICEF Campus Clubs, the event attracted more than 150 walkers and raised over $7,000 to provide access to clean drinking water to the 2012 campaign beneficiaries—Togo, Vietnam, Mauritania, and Cameroon.