Mark Schlachtenhaufen
The Edmond Sun
EDMOND — An area elementary school raised $3,593 that will give children clean drinking water where it does not otherwise exist.
Students at Deer Creek’s Prairie Vale Elementary School raised the money, which will be donated to WaterIsLife.com, an Edmond charity that gives water filters to children in developing countries.
The small, portable filters hang around the neck of a child and provide pure water for one year. Among other places, they are supplying clean water in Haiti, a nation recovering from the devastating earthquake that leveled much of the capital city.
During a Thursday morning school-wide assembly, Prairie Vale Principal Michelle Anderson and Edmond aquatic specialist John Turner, a Prairie Vale parent, intrigued students by using a filter to drink some pretty nasty-looking pond water.
Turner, owner of Ponds Rx in Edmond, said the demonstration was to show the students that the filters they helped buy work to provide clean water. Turner said their generosity shows that there is a lot of goodness in the world.
Prairie Vale students know about Haiti, and what happened there, Turner said.
“Kids know that they’re doing a good thing for a good cause,” he said.
Anderson said more than 125 students, staff and parents made the donation possible. The fundraising effort was inspired by Ken Surritte, founder of WaterIsLife.com, who explained how the filters work during an earlier visit.
Around the world, millions of children are stricken with preventable diseases because of the lack of clean water. The filters are meant to provide children the needed clean water to survive until a more permanent solution can be arranged.
Surritte also brought more than 300 filters, which cost $10 each, with him. The students and adults who donated were able to sign their names on the filters to let the people of Haiti know that real people, here in Oklahoma, care about them, Anderson said.
Prairie Vale kindergarten teacher Laurie Gallagher said the demonstration was sparked by the school’s Club Hope, founded and sponsored by fifth-grade reading teacher Kathy Schwiebert.
Additionally, for the past two years Club Hope has helped the children of Kenya through their involvement with the O Ambassadors Club. Club Hope also has donated children’s hats, gloves, coats and clothing to City Rescue Mission.
The assembly was done in combination with Prairie Vale’s Principals Reading Challenge, scheduled to last throughout the day. The principal sets an annual goal for the number of books students will read. If the goal is met, the principal does something crazy, such as kissing a pig or riding a bull.
After the assembly, teams of staff and students walked 12 miles, one mile for every 1,000 books the students read. Anderson said a total of 12,000 books were read, topping this year’s 10,000-book goal.
For more information about the water filters, visit WaterIsLife.com.
marks@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 108
