445th AW Airman's Council donates shoes for clean water

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Shen-Chia McHone
  • 445th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  In America, water is everywhere. We drink it filtered, purified, enhanced with minerals and straight from the spring wells. In any sink, it's as simple as turning on the faucet to control the temperature. Many of us are able to enjoy a nice cold glass to quench our thirst after a long, hot summer's day of work. Could you imagine what life would be like without water?

According to EDGE Outreach, there are 884 million people worldwide who live without clean water every day. With every passing second, children are dying because of unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation and hygiene. More than 5,000 children die each day in the world's poorest countries and more than 80 percent of all sicknesses in the world are attributed to unsafe water and sanitation.

The 445th Airlift Wing Airman's Council has collected more than 3,000 pairs of shoes (4,000 pounds) to donate shoes to EDGE Outreach to create clean drinking water for those in need. This international organization helps to provide clean, bacteria and parasite-free water for people around the world. The council collected shoes for the "Shoes for Water" program across the wing from June to November 2012 and during the Air Force Marathon.

The collected shoes will help to raise money for water purification projects and keep used shoes out of landfills. For every 20,000 pounds of shoes that EDGE Outreach sells to an exporter, one village in a Third World country will be provided a chlorine generator, and water purification equipment and training.