TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Laura Flikkema, a special education teacher at Northwest Education Services, mother of two and wife of Pastor Jon at the Fellowship Church in Traverse City, Michigan will be lacing up her sneakers at the crack of down this Saturday morning when she joins about 30 or 40 friends for another season of running to raise funds for families in Africa who need clean water.

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The HWI MI North team shows up at 7:30 a.m. (sharp) every Saturday morning from the end of April through the beginning of October to run or walk and for fellowship, fundraising, and to share their love of Christ. They have introductions, announcements, a training tip, a fundraising tip, they talk about why they are in the program and what their plan is, they pray and they take photos.

This is Flikkema’s sixth year fundraising for Hope Water International (HWI). The organization started out in 2012 as a church ministry in the metro Detroit area as Hope Water Project (HWP) and became HWI, a nonprofit organization that was launched in 2017 as an effort to have a wider reach and impact on individuals, churches, and organizations to help provide access to clean water worldwide.

Hope Water International partners with communities to bring clean water to people in Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Each well provides water for 1,000 to 2,000 people. After the wells are installed, HWI also equips local churches, partners, and third-party evaluators to carry on this ministry and maintain the well after they leave. The website says, “We strive to live out and proclaim the Gospel through projects with long-term, sustainable results.”

Overall, HWI has raised $5.4 million since 2012. The organization is all volunteer run with no money going to salaries. The money comes from donations to the runners and walkers who fundraise for their teams and have campaigns. The HWI MI North team has raised $209,003 since 2018.

There are different levels of participation including walkers, runners and also those who train for running events. Some in the HWI MI North team will be participating in the Bayshore Marathon, Cherry Festival races, North Country Trail Run, Crystal Lake Marathon, Ironman, the Sleeping Bear Marathon, and more. Collectively, the team raised $63,530 for their 2022 campaign.

The group follows a training plan and many will train for their team’s main event which is the Sleeping Bear Marathon in October. They start getting together this Saturday with just 30 minutes of walking or running and build up over the course of 24 weeks. Brown says, “We work hard, but have a blast doing it. Just a bunch of ordinary folks on mission to do the extraordinary. We welcome all with open arms! Lives are being changed in Africa (and here!) as we are bring hope, one clean water well at a time! Will it be easy? Nope! Worth it? Absolutely!”

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Brown also wants to make it clear that you don’t have to be a “runner” to show up. She said that some people just come out on Saturdays for community, walking, and fundraising. She said, “We are not just a walking club, running club or social gathering. We do this for purpose. The training is a way to challenge ourselves as we know that is best done with others. And besides, ‘nothing grows in comfort zones.’”

When Flikkema was asked why she participates with the organization, she said in a video, “It’s all of you…It’s because this is the best part of my week, it’s the best part of my life. The kindness and love and acceptance that is provided here is unlike anything else. It gets me through the tough days when I’m missing my family, when I’m worried about my mom who has cancer…you guys lift me up.”

Flikkema goes on to say, “It’s also because I get to be a part of something that’s so bigger than myself. I get to be a part of something that’s going to change and save people’s lives. I think that we often take for granted the clean water that we have that’s readily available for us anytime that’s not going to make us sick. I think about the people who have no other choice than to drink dirty water. Not only that, but have to walk for hours to get it and then carry it home. Instead, they could have a well right in their community, children could go to school, a love of Jesus can be shared, families and animals can be healthier…Mother Theresa has a quote that says ‘I alone cannot change the world but I can cast a stone across the water that creates many ripples.’ So I do it because it is something that is spreading ripples here and there.”

Others teams throughout Michigan are doing the same – and there is also a team in Orlando, Florida. Carol Brown, who brought HWI to Traverse City in 2018 says about the program, “We participate in events and during the many weeks of training, as we are challenging ourselves, forming community and growing together – physically, mentally, spiritually – we are also raising awareness and funds for clean water wells.”

Does she have advice to anyone who is thinking about joining? Brown said, “My advice for anyone that wants to be a part of something bigger than themselves, and has a desire to be in community that saves lives, not only ‘here’ but ‘there’, is to just SHOW UP! Take that first step and say, ‘yes’. And keep saying, ‘yes’, week after week after week, even when you don’t feel like it, even when it is hard. I was not a runner, and that was me back in 2012. I knew nobody but wanted to help create change, and bring HOPE to those lacking the very basic necessity of clean water. ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’ We welcome runners and walkers; newbies and veterans; kids and pups, people of all ages, shapes and sizes.”

This is Brown’s 12th year in the program and she says, “My family and I have been blessed over and over because of HWI and are honored to be a part of this life-changing ministry. Our work will impact lives for generations to come, long after we are gone.”

Brown said about the impact of clean water to communities in Africa, “We have witnessed first-hand the impact of clean water in Africa. With each well, communities are strengthened, villages grow, health is restored, schools are brought in, and these beautiful, once “forgotten” people are given the opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the very first time. They learn of a God who loves and cares for them. And it all starts with water. Water + Jesus = HOPE! Simply put, water changes everything!”