OKLAHOMA CITY (PRNewswire) — The Water4 Foundation, a 501(c)3 public charity based out of Oklahoma City, Wednesday announced the launch of its campaign for World Water Day, the United Nations-designated international day held annually on March 22.
Celebrities such as actress Jennie Garth (90210), former Dallas Cowboys safety Roy Williams, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Gerald McCoy have joined in to raise awareness for the campaign, which will kick off today with the opening of the World Water Day Photo Contest, held in partnership with World Vision.
The organization will support a series of initiatives on and leading up to World Water Day, when co-founder Richard Greenly will be a featured panelist at the UN Headquarters in New York during The Infopoverty World Conference 2012 on March 22nd. In addition to the photo contest, Water4 will also hold a World Water Day Open House and support the Anabel Reid Run for Water.
"World Water Day is a moment for all of us in the water and sanitation sector to join forces and highlight the progress being made, as well as reaffirm our commitment to the work that remains to be done," said Greenly. "By bringing innovative techniques and a business-based approach to our projects and partners in places like Togo, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Haiti, we've made significant strides toward helping to address the world's water crisis."
As part of its efforts to bring attention to this crisis, Water4 has launched its World Water Day Photo Contest, which encourages people to submit a creative photo showing how much water it takes to produce an everyday food item. Water4 ambassador Jennie Garth (90210) will judge the winning photo. More information on the contest can be found on Water4's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/water4foundation.
"I am so proud to be able to support World Water Day and the work that the Water4 Foundation is doing around the world, helping to bring clean water to children and families in need," said Garth. "Often we forget how important clean water is for so many things—such as health, education, empowerment of women, food security—and this World Water Day we hope to raise awareness of its impact and encourage people to help in any way they can."
For full details visit www.water4.org.
The Water4 Foundation, a 501(c)3 public charity based out of Oklahoma City, Okla., was founded in 2008 by Dick and Terri Greenly (co-owners of Pumps of Oklahoma) with the mission to not only provide water to at-risk, impoverished areas but also, to teach and provide employment opportunities through their inexpensive pumps and drilling methods. Since its inception in 2008, Water4 has helped meet the needs of over 100,000 people for reasonable access to clean drinking water in countries like Haiti, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Rwanda. Water4's 2014 goal is to get water to a million people.