 "Photo: Tiffany Tran")
The Wells Project will begin "two weeks of sacrifice" Monday. The project is a 14-day period when they ask students and community members to give up all beverages except tap water, and then donate the money that they would have spent toward building wells in developing nations. "The main reason we ask students to give up everything but water is that we don't realize how privileged we are to have instant access to water," said Wells Project President Kristen Free.
From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Nov. 12 at First Baptist Church Bryan another part of the fundraising will be a Shane and Shane concert. "We enjoy their music and know they have a heart for the world as well, so we brought them in and knew that they would facilitate worship," Free said. Concert tickets are $5, and can be bought online at thewellsproject.tamu.edu up to two days before the concert. After that tickets can be purchased at the door. The money raised will go to Living Water International, an organization that partners with churches in communities in need of wells. "In certain areas, if the well wasn't on church property, not everyone would have access, it allows more people to have access, and the churches use it as an opportunity to share the gospel," Free said. "Human rights and social justice are very important as to us as Christ followers. We hope to impact their eternity, as well as their everyday lives."
Wells Project Campus Outreach Director Eric Newman said the appeal of the two weeks of sacrifice is its compatibility with the college lifestyle. "I love the concept of the two weeks of sacrifice, because as college kids two things we don't have are time and money, and you're not really giving up either. You're just saving money and giving what you saved." Newman also said it is a cause that is easy to get behind. "There are a lot of controversial issues out there, it's really hard to argue about whether or not somebody should have access to clean water," he said. Sophomore Wells Project member Valarie Whitt said the simplicity is what drew her to the project. "It's such a beautiful representation, and it's so simple, it just blows my mind that $1 will give one person clean water for an entire year." The Wells Project raised $18,000 to go toward building the wells in 2008.
Newman said the people receiving wells aren't the only ones to benefit from this project. "We raised $18,000, which saves 18,000 lives," he said, "but during those two weeks, every person participating was constantly thinking about that issue and how blessed they are. I love that almost as much as I love the main point of the project itself."
