Special by Tracy Donley, TLU communications
TLU’s Well #9, located in Uganda.
(Seguin) — There will be a new water well in rural Africa, thanks to the generosity of those who attended and contributed to April’s Water to Thrive benefit, hosted by TLU’s Water to Thrive Student Club, TLU Center for Servant Leadership, and Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church.
Water to Thrive is a nonprofit that teams up with organizations like TLU to fund and dig wells for rural communities in Ethiopia, Uganda, and Tanzania, where millions are affected by droughts, waterborne diseases, or pollution, and women and children must walk hours every day to find drinkable water for their families and livestock.
For the past 14 years, the TLU Water to Thrive Student Club has been helping to raise funds to support this work, and in that time, has funded nine water wells, each of which serves about five hundred people.
And now, there will be a tenth well.
“It is amazing!” says Ann Flemings, Director of Advancement at Water to Thrive.
“So wonderful what we can accomplish together as a community.” She also shares the happy news that this year’s benefit raised enough money not only to fully fund well number 10, but also to start TLU well number 11.
“On behalf of the Water to Thrive Student Club, thank you so much to everyone who helped make our event a success,” says Sophie Salgado, club president. “We are so grateful and excited to have funded our tenth well! Thank you especially to Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church for providing us a welcoming place to host the event, the general Seguin community, and the hardworking TLU students who helped support our efforts. We know our funds will be directly used to fund the well and provide clean, fresh water to a community in need in rural Africa. It feels amazing to make a positive difference in the world, and we look forward to our future endeavors!”