Photo by Abby Bellow
Wishing Well is a student-run group on campus that partners with outside sources to provide clean water to other countries, and it extends one of Oklahoma Christian University’s core initiatives, “OC is Mission.”
“We promote awareness of water prices in Africa and raise money for that cause,” senior Jessica Frost said. “Steps we take to achieve that include concerts and open-mic nights. We are always tossing around different ideas in meeting, we know that people will want to help support the cause if we get the information we know out to others.”
Missionary in Resident Kent Hartman said the group helps build community atmosphere on campus as well as support an international cause.
“I like that they are out trying to help people,” Hartman said. “I know that it was started here at OC and their main purpose is to help people get clean water to drink and they have continued on that good work for a number of years now.”
Senior Evynn Alexander, Wishing Well president, helped out last year with fundraising and has plans for the upcoming year.
“I am trying to sustain things in this community of students,” Alexander said. “I took this position because I saw a need for goal setting in the Wishing Well organization. Our main purpose is to help people get access to clean water and to find ways to start building wells in other countries.”
Wishing Well is a movement of colleges, high schools and churches that raise money to provide water to people in ten different countries through partnership with development partners.
“We are working on different wells with an organization Water4Water to help sustain and maintain the wells that we have already help build,” Alexander said. “When a well is built, a lot of the time it will be used so much that it will break; but we hope to help change that.”
Oklahoma Christian’s Wishing Well chapter has created their own event, 10 Days, to help raise the needed funding for well advancements, according to Alexander.
“10 Days is a fundraiser we have done for several years set up with the cafeteria and UDining,” Alexander said. “We ask people to only drink water in the cafeteria and the money that UDining does not spend on soda goes toward the Wishing Well foundation.”
Other fundraising opportunities with Wishing Well will happen year round and encourage students to contribute to the cause of freshwater for others.
“I may not be someone that goes and drills the wells, but it is up to us to raise the money with the help of the people around us,” Alexander said. “We hope to help out again in lighting in the commons and also a craft night coming up.”
Members of Wishing Well help with the organization by planning events and supporting fundraising opportunities.
“This year we are really going to try a lot harder in our efforts to make sure a well is built,” junior Yuvette Kramp said. “We are thinking to do a water walk and the well would be for Rwanda.”
Frost said she values the camaraderie of the organization.
“I love the community of the group because we are close to each other and [are] always working together,” Frost said. “We are always there for each other and it is a lot of fellowship throughout the group.”
Weekly meetings are on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. in William-Branch Center, room 125.
More information about Wishing Well is viewable here.
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