• 1.8 billion people around the world don’t have the luxury of simply walking up to their kitchen sink, lifting a faucet and having instant access to clean drinking water.

• Globally, a third of all schools lack access to safe water and adequate sanitation.

• More than 840,000 people die from a water-related disease each year, including diarrhea caused by bad drinking water, hygiene and sanitation.

• Women and children spend 125 million hours collecting fresh water every day. Individual women and children spend as many as six hours collecting fresh water daily.

• At least 160 million children suffering from chronic malnutrition are linked to unclean water and poor sanitation.

• Every 90 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease.

(statistics from water.org)

The statistics are disturbing and unjust. There is no reason that this should be happening in 2017. The world has more than enough resources to combat and conquer the global water crisis. It’s overwhelming when you hear numbers like “millions” or “billions” and many times it’s easier to ignore it or pretend it doesn’t exist. Many people are unaware that this is even happening outside of their own kitchen sink. It’s hard to fathom that it can be this way for billions of people.

Fortunately, a group of mindful seventh grade girls from Holmen Middle School decided to do what they could to make a difference.

These world-changing young ladies decided to contact Reinhart Foods to see if they would donate cookies for them to sell during their school lunch times. Reinhart agreed and they were on their way. They were able to sell enough cookies to raise $220 DOLLARS for Upstream International to use to provide clean drinking water to someone who would otherwise not have it. With their favorite lunch lady behind them, they worked hard, created awareness and inspired the entire Upstream Family at the same time.

It’s amazing what can happen with caring and cookies. 

Ladies, thank you for seeing, caring and acting. We can all learn from you about how to think outside of ourselves & act on behalf of those in need. Keep fighting against injustice and being a voice for those that need your voice to go before theirs. We can’t wait to show you how the dollars YOU raised impact LIVES and make a DIFFERENCE.