Until about 3 years ago, I never really paid much attention to the needs of the poorest people in the world (those that live on less than $2 / day, in some cases far less than $2 / day). Thankfully the church that I attend kept this issue in front of me at weekend services and in the programs that they supported. I started to participate in various programs to try help where I could. Then I heard the following statistic one Sunday.

Today, more than 26,000 children under age 5 will die from preventable or treatable causes ... And the vast majority of all child deaths (99 percent) occur in developing countries.

By my math, that is about one kid every 3.4 seconds. This seemed shocking to me. A child dies every 3.4 seconds due so something that could have been prevented. I needed to do something to help. 

As a result, I am running the Chicago Marathon with a group from my church through the World Vision program. Our contributions as well as the contributions of those that sponsor us will bring clean drinking water to a region of 90,000 people in a country called Zambia which is in Africa.  Drinking water for these folks can represent the difference between life and death. It means that that in many cases they don't have to spend most of their day walking to get it. It means that they can grow crops that produce food for their well-being. It means that the chances of them suffering from disease and infection are greatly reduced. All I have to do to help is give a little money and find others who feel the same way.  If you're interested in learning more you, feel free to take a look at the video to left of this message. It is just over 3 minutes in length.

Thank you for taking the time to read my page.  I wish you a great rest of the summer filled with God's blessings.