This year’s Walk for Water was a huge success! Thanks to you, we surpassed our goal of $110,000 and raised over $128,000. Twenty-one teams joined the Walk and gathered to support the women in Kenya. Not only did teams form on the West Coast from Alaska to California, supporters also joined from as far away as New Jersey and Georgia. It was exciting to have over 500 walkers and donors from 26 states participate this year.

Our amazing team captains are the heart of Walk for Water. They organized and inspired their teams, spread the word about Path From Poverty, and reached out to their communities to garner support.

This year’s captains:

Donna and Barbara - Team Calvin

Brenda and Forrest - Walk & Dance with us

Pat - Juneau Stepping Out

Sharon and LaVonne - LaVonne and Sharon

Marilyn - Walk with Wendo

Kathy - California Cares

Kelly and Leslie - Chamber Cares

Vonnie and Boni - Hydration Nation!

Joanne - Walkers with a Purpose

Tim - Edmonds United Methodist Church

Gillian - PFP Juneau

Diana and Verna - Presby Water Angels

Bev - Reigning Hope

Judy - LCPC Walkers

Sarah - Walk with Sarah

Bonnie - Wild Women Walkers

Kathryn - Wana Baraka

Kim - The Quenchers

Renee - Tea Drinkers and Walkers

Waeni - Pamoja

Laura - Miles to Go Before We Sleep

Prize Winning Participation!

Team Calvin was our largest and most successful fundraising team. Asante sana (Swahili for thank you) to our top two individual fundraisers, Marilyn Kaino and Mary Jane Apple. Congratulations to Marilyn, who won the prize for having raised the most money by the day of the event. 

Kelly Stone won a prize for participating in the Challenges, which provided a way for us to relate to the experiences of our sisters in Kenya.

Kelly shared her reflections: “I did the challenge to see how many sources of clean water I could access in my home. When I realized I had 10 and it’s just me and my cat in this modest townhouse I am in presently I felt grateful and fortunate yet sad. How easy life is for us here and what a struggle it is for such a huge part of our world! Everyone should have access to clean water! It also makes me more aware of the water I use (and what I might waste that others would love to have) so I’m being more conscious with choices that involve the water I have been blessed with!”

We are honored by the support of our participants, volunteers, donors, and sponsors. Thank you for believing that everyone deserves access to clean, safe water. With water, comes hope and opportunity for a better future for women, girls, and their families.

With your generous support, Path From Poverty raised over $108,000 with our 2021 Walk for Water "Ten Thousand Steps" spring fundraiser. We are delighted to announce this is twice as much as raised last year, which was at the time the most PFP had ever raised with our Walk campaign! That this was done virtually, with COVID lock-down challenges, these last two years is amazing! 

Thank you. Your donations helped create this tremendous success and made a difference.

Hopefully, you will internalize the genuine gratitude that I, Kathryn (my only staff), our board, and the Kenyan leaders and the women in their groups, have for your generous support. You are impacting the lives of many Kenyan sisters and their families as we work to change the harsh reality of water inequity so they can stop "fetching" and using disease infested water just to survive. Thank you!

This year, weekly challenges leading up to the walk date helped participants get a better sense of how arduous the daily task of obtaining water is for Kenyan women. Several of you took on one or more. The reflections that folks shared about how engaging in the challenges spoke to the deeper understanding and connection they gained was appreciated. Here is an example of how touched one participant was:

"This morning I was taking a shower when suddenly I thought of women carrying water to their homes and considered how much I had used already. Guilt trip! After turning off the tap, strong images flooded my mind and emotions for the next hour. How heavy was the water carried on a Kenya woman’s back for five miles to and from the river source? Was it clean and disease-free? Could I carry that heavy load? If so, would I have used it more sparingly? I paused...because the answers were difficult. That is why this campaign is important. It gives purpose and dignity to those women who walk for water daily. It reminds me to be more thoughtful in its usage and appreciate what is delivered daily by my local water system.” - Joy L.

Once again, thank you for supporting Path From Poverty as we continue working to fulfill this mission of hope. We could not do it without you!

Even though we redesigned this year's walk to be virtual, we were able to pull together and raise our goal of $45,000. Donations are still coming in and pledges have been made. Once they are all in we will surpass our goal.

To all of our hard-working team captains and generous donors, we thank you for your support. We could not have had this level of success without you.

We recognize our top fundraising champions:

      Top Individual Fundraiser - Gigi Waham

      Top Fundraising Team Captain - Boni Piper

      Top Two Teams with Most Participants - Reigning Hope and Presby Water Angels

We would also like to thank our generous event sponsor, Cascade Lumber!

Thank you all, near and far, who supported WEI's 9th Annual Walk for Water 2019. The sun was out, the music was incredible, and we could not be more thankful for the amazing community of people that came out to participate this year.  Big thank you to participants, volunteers, donors and sponsors who all made it possible. We could hear the cries of joy and gratitude of the women's groups all the way in Kenya!

Congratulations to the top fundraisers, teams and race finishers. 

Top Fundraising Team: Reigning Ladies raised $3,135

Top Individual Fundraisers: Doug & Sharon Andrews

Team Fundraising Totals

Presby Water Angels - $1,830

Reigning Hope - $1,047

Agnes' Sister Lisa - $535

Sunny, Hook & Co. - $300

Lake City Pres Walkers - $144

Kenya Dig It - $175

Silly Sally's Water Walkers - $25

Top Finishers

1st Place:  Kevin Hutchinson 00:21:27

2nd Place: Russell O'Connell 00:21:33

3rd Place:  Victor Bli 00:21:51

You did it!  Thank you for making this year's Walk For Water a huge success. Through your participation and fundraising efforts, we were able to raise over $30,000 for Kenyan women and their families. You are bringing clean, safe water to Kenyan and more importantly, hope.