Mrs. Rivas is a 6th grade teacher here at Day Creek. She has run the Team World Vision Marathon three times.What does this organization do? Team World Vision is a non-profit organization where they provide clean water to countries who are in need. World Vision’s main focus is to have people sponsor a children in other countries to free them from poverty.

Rivas has raised a total of $12,720 this past summer. That’s $2,665 more than her husband and team captain, Mark Rivas. She has also raised the most money for her team at World Vision. Her husband and son, Wyatt, have also ran in the marathon with her.

“The last two years my goal was to raise $10,000 each year. I always feel a better sense of accomplishment knowing that I fundraised that much because $10,000 is 200 people who can get fresh, clean water for the rest of their lives,” Rivas said.

Why spend time running for water? On the Impact Nations website it states that 3.4 million people die each year due to water related diseases. The population of Los Angeles is about 3.9 million people, so the people dying to water related illnesses is about 500,000 less people than the amount of people who live in L.A. According to The Water Project website studies have proven that for every 10% increase in women’s literature a country’s whole economy can grow by 0.03%. It wouldn’t be uncommon to find women or young girls walking to collect water, but in rural areas, like Bangladesh, Cambodia and Ghana, the closest water source may be an hour away. Young girls may have to spend up to two hours getting water when they could be at school getting an education instead.

“I have ample access to clean water and we don’t ever think about things like that; we don’t think about the water we have, even when we’re in a drought. We never go without showering and we never have to walk to get water,” Rivas said.

In some developing nations, women are not given the opportunity to own a business or even get a higher education. Teenage girls are forced to stay at home, away from school, for hours each day due to the responsibility of collecting water. In average, women a total of 40 billion hours walking in Africa. Even after that water is gathered, diseases found in dirty water kill more people than war.

“[One woman’s] husband was always mad at her because she didn’t have time to do other things that he thought were really important, and he couldn’t understand why she spent so much time getting water. After they capped the spring [making water available] she didn’t have to spend nearly as much time. It opened up her time to start a business,” said Mrs. Rivas.

World Vision has greatly improved lives all around the world. No wonder Mrs. Rivas loves it so much. Clean water can help improve a child’s life. With the help of World Vision, more people are getting a chance at a better life every day.