Sophomore’s clean water project launched this week
Some Americans refuse to drink water straight from their taps, while others across the globe can’t be particular; they lack access to safe water altogether.
Sophomore Kelsie Butts, through her Walla Water Project, is asking the community to consider the value of water.
“I think our biggest crisis is water. I definitely think that climate change and our dependence on oil and the food crisis are very, very important, but there’s never going to be a time when we can live without clean water and I think people don’t think about where the water’s coming from when they turn on their faucets,” said Butts.
Her project, an independent take on the community internship component of the environmental studies major, is twofold: awareness is its primary goal, and raising money for the World Vision Clean Water Fund its secondary goal.
From Tuesday April 22 to Friday April 24,
various Walla Walla restaurants are
coordinating efforts to raise funds for the
World Vision Clean Water Fund. These
restaurants include:
A screening of the film “Thirst,” which documents the privatization of water in India, Bolivia, Japan and Stockton, Calif., launched the project on Sunday, April 19. This week five local restaurants have joined forces with Butts, agreeing to distribute information about the project and a donation envelope to patrons along with their checks.
The envelopes ask that patrons consider donating one dollar for the complimentary tap water they were served, an amount that gives a child 40 days worth of clean water.
Originally, Saffron, Pho Sho and Creektown Café were to participate on Tuesday, April 22 and Friday, April 24, with Whitehouse Crawford and Brasserie Four joining on Friday.
But the project was so successful for owner of Saffron and Pho Sho, Island Ainsworth, that she will expand it beyond just Tuesday and Friday.
“She said that the night was a great success and that they wanted to do the project all week. Very exciting! I didn’t get an exact number, but she said that they were getting positive responses as far as people’s willingness to donate,” said Butts.
Butts’s passion for clean water was sparked while a senior at Southridge High School in Kennewick, Wash., where her teacher and mentor passed on an article about UNICEF’s Tap Project, after which Butts modeled her own modified version that asks patrons rather than restaurants for donations.
Butts considers her current project only the beginning of an escalated campaign.
“I’m looking at this project to be more of a pilot project—this is something I’d really like to do again in Kennewick where I live. I’d like to do it on a much larger scale, with more restaurants involved, and have it be more than two evenings. I want to learn a lot from this as far as what needs to be different for it to be effective,” Butts said.
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