Bringing Clean Water to Malawi with charity: water
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Community and connection have always been at the heart of Vuori. We take so much pride in the community we have built and are constantly inspired to find new ways to get involved, give back, and create ripples of positive change. While it can be so easy to get caught up in the madness of the holidays and chasing the best deal or the best sale, we decided to focus our attention on helping those in the world who needed it most. This year we kicked off our partnership with charity: water and while we could not be more proud of the ways we have already been able to help, we're excited to say that this is just the beginning.
We always take pride in finding ways to give back on Giving Tuesday, but this year our team decided to try something a little different and decided to challenge ourselves and our community to give back in an even bigger way. When we first met with charity: water we fell in love with their mission and their passion to bringing clean and safe drinking water to those that need it most in the world. We were also astounded when they educated us on the work they had done and the impact that this could have on so many lives. From that first conversation, we were in.
Since 2006, charity: water has been providing rural populations across the globe with lasting access to clean and safe drinking water, proper sanitation, and hygiene services. These are resources that a lot of us take for granted every day, but that hold the power to keep communities like the ones in Malawi, alive.
“Basic sanitation and access to clean water can save 16,000 lives a WEEK. Women and girls spend 200 million hours each day walking to collect water in grueling conditions (UNICEF). They risk their safety and security to collect water that often carries life-threatening, yet preventable, diseases.”
COMMUNITY
After hearing more about the hundreds of miles and millions of hours that are spent walking just to get clean water, we felt inspired to hit the streets ourselves and we challenged our community to join us. In October, we set the intention of a 20-thousand-mile run, walk, hike, Strava challenge that would last for 2 weeks and equate to us being able to donate 22 million liters of water. What we didn’t know then was just how passionate our community was going to be about joining us for this cause. In just a couple of days we smashed our original goal and decided to up the challenge to 1 million miles. To our amazement even that goal was exceeded… by another 1.3 million miles.
In a movement that started on the West Coast at our flagship store in Encinitas, we came together both as individuals and as massive groups at 8 of our Vuori stores across the US to walk for an incredible cause. Over 65 thousand people joined the Strava challenge, a total of 2.3 million miles were walked collectively, and 33 million liters of clean water were able to be donated.
While we felt insanely proud of our community and the amount we were able to donate through the challenge, we couldn’t stop there. We also decided to partner with charity: water for Giving Tuesday and for 24 hours every order from Vuori.com and all of our retail stores provided 1,100 liters of clean water ($1 = 1,100 liters). Between our Strava challenge and Giving Tuesday efforts we are so proud to be able to say that 51,700,000 liters of clean water will be donated to communities in Malawi through a Vuori sponsored water project with charity: water.
Providing millions of liters of water to Malawi was something we felt really good about doing, but also couldn’t help but wonder how donations like ours were impacting lasting change on these rural areas of the world—so we talked more with charity: water to find out more.
SUSTAINABILITY
“Our work is not "complete" until there is local ownership over water projects that can sustainably maintain a high level of service. We consider communities to be the cornerstone of effective and sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene projects, from site identification to long-term functionality.”
Charity: water goes beyond initial access to clean water to underdeveloped nations by setting up effective and sustainable clean water infrastructures within the communities they work with. It’s an integral part of their strategy to join forces with local partners to instill necessary practices for generations to come—not just relying on temporary fixes.
SOLUTION
How does getting clean water to these rural communities work? When groundwater is reachable by manual drilling methods a borehole is first drilled, lined, and then tested for water quality. It’s also disinfected to ensure safety and sanitation. Finally, the well is fitted with a pump that brings clean water to the surface. Charity: water is then able to train community members to maintain the well and ensure clean and safe water access.
We were honored to be a part of what charity: water is doing to change the world and can’t thank them enough for their ongoing dedication to saving and transforming millions of lives. Learn more about the ripple effect that clean water can have on rural communities, here and stay tuned as we share more incredible stories from the impact these efforts are having in Malawi throughout 2024.
