THE FACTS:

771 million people—or 1 in 10 worldwide—lack access to clean and safe drinking water.
Contaminated water causes more deaths than all forms of violence, including war.
Dirty water carries dangerous diseases like E. Coli, Cholera, and Salmonella and is the third leading cause of death in children.
In many underserved countries, women and children walk an average of 3.5 miles daily—or 105 miles per month—just to collect water.
This long journey for a basic necessity takes up valuable time, preventing women from working and children from attending school regularly.

OUR RESPONSE:

In response, we are hosting a student-led fundraiser to help bring awareness and raise funds to help combat the world's clean water crisis.

To help maximize our impact and ensure proceeds are used effectively, we have partnered with local non-profit organization Vivid Roots. Vivid Roots helps facilitate community-led projects that increase access to clean water, education, and health services in underserved communities throughout Central and South America. Learn more about Vivid Roots here.

WHO ARE WE HELPING?

Vivid Roots is proud to collaborate with Hawthorne Elementary on a meaningful project to provide approximately 300 water filters for families across communities in Chiquimula, Guatemala.

Although many of these communities have access to water, much of it is contaminated and can carry disease. By providing families with EcoFiltro water filters, we can help improve health outcomes, keep children in school, and reduce the time and risks women often face while collecting clean water.

Our initial plan is to use fundraising proceeds to purchase EcoFiltro water filters for families in Guatemala. However, if local community members, the Vivid Roots team, and our partners in Guatemala determine that another solution would provide a more sustainable or impactful way to deliver clean water, funds may be directed toward that project instead. Regardless of the solution implemented, Vivid Roots will document the project and share details about costs and the number of people served with donors and the public.

THE FUNDRAISER:

What: Walk for Water Event! We will be hosting an event where we will symbolize and spread awareness of what so many people do everyday around the world - walking for water. Help us directly impact a community in Guatemala that will help increase access to clean drinking water & more!

Where: Hawthorne Elementary

When: April 9th & 10th (Lunch hours)

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

(1) Participate: Join us on April 9th & 10th to walk with the students!

(2) Donate: Can you help us reach our goal? Our goal is fundraise $7,500 to purchase 300 water filters. We hope to have each student raise $25.00, which will pay for a filter to give a family in Guatemala clean water in their home.

(3) Help share this link!

THE GOOD NEWS:

There are plenty of sustainable solutions for clean water. It’s fairly simple to install systems and educate communities so they can have clean water for the rest of their lives.

- On average, it costs about $25-$30 to provide someone with access to clean drinking water
- Access to clean water gets kids back in school and allows for a brighter future
- Investing in clean water helps empower women
- Safe water saves lives!

HAWTHORNE'S IMPACT OVER THE YEARS:

While partnering with Vivid Roots, we have helped raise over $26,000 and have impacted 2,400+ lives with increasing access to clean drinking water!

Our past fundraising efforts have done the following:

-In 2025, Hawthorne Hawks raised $6,875 through their Walk for Water fundraiser. The funds helped install clean water holding tanks and washing stations at two schools in Lomas Arriba, Guatemala, costing $3,158.07 and benefiting 173 students. The remaining proceeds helped provide 40 desks and 40 chairs for a new computer lab at another school in José Angel Palma, Guatemala, benefiting 213 students.

WATCH VIDEO HERE - New Clean Water System at scool in Lomas Arriba

New Computer Lab at school in José Angel Palma.

-In 2024, fundraising efforts provided the infrastructure to bring clean water to two schools in the Lomas Arriba community of Guatemala. One example of the water system can be seen in the video below. This helped impact over 300 students.

WATCH 40 SEC VIDEO HERE

^^What you see in the video is a large water holding tank, suspended in the air. Water is collected from mountain runoff, channeled through the school’s plumbing, where it pools in a sink before being pumped into the large holding tank above. Thanks to gravity and the proper plumbing, this holding tank then distributes water throughout the school for various uses, including bathrooms, cooking, handwashing, and drinking. The water is purified with EcoFiltro water filters to ensure it is safe for drinking.

-In 2023, fundraising provided 40 families (resulting in about 426 people) in the community of Escalon Arriba, Guatemala with large water holding tanks within their homes that will allow for each household to store plenty of drinking, cooking, and farming water during their dry summer months.

-In 2022 fundraising efforts helped the purchase and distribution of 300 water filters in three different communities: Pueblo Nuevo, Carrizal, and, Majada. In total, this project impacted 450 families, resulting in 1,200 individuals.

-Hawthorne Elementary was also a part of a very important project in 2023 alongside 7 participating schools in the Treasure Valley who helped raise funds for a Rainwater Harvesting and Storage system in the Los Pinos community living in Zone 3 of the Guatemala City garbage dump, just outside of the Creamos campus (Creamos is a non-profit organization that Vivid Roots partnered with in 2023 to help the surrounding communities). This specific community had zero access to water and was in desperate need. This new system is estimated to last approximately 20 - 25 years and Creamos has estimated that this system will decrease the amount of money that families spend on water by 80%. In addition to the Rainwater Harvesting and Storage system funds raised also installed 3 rain catchment systems! In total this project impacted 34 households resulting in about 204 people!

More to come for 2026!!!!

Walking for Water in El Jute, Guatemala

Help Hawthorne Students Increase Access to Clean Water for People In Need!

We are helping a community in need, help us reach our goal!

Team Leaderboard

Team Members