Hey Friends!  (Follow my hiking progress on Instagram @pctwaterboy or my blog https://pctwaterboy.blogspot.com or on Facebook or contact me at [email protected] to receive email updates)

I want to tell you why I run and hike for clean water with World Vision. It all began in 2011 when my sister and brother-in-law invited me to come visit them for a week in Sierra Leone, Africa. They were working on the Africa Mercy hospital ship providing free eye care to the people who could not afford cataract surgeries. They were in port for a 10-month period in the capital city of Freeport.

On this trip, I was able to tour the city and surrounding area on different days when we had the opportunity to leave the ship. This was a city of 2 million people with an infrastructure to support only 500,000. Amid these very crowded conditions, I watched people collecting drinking water from a break in a pipeline which ran along the top of a street gutter just above an open sewage ditch. Outside the city, I saw people that were bathing in streams which flowed directly through town to the port.

The next year, John Huddle with World Vision came to speak at our church and shared about raising funds for clean water projects by participating in running events with Team World Vision. My wife Tami and I were moved to sign up to run the LA Half Marathon. Tami ran and I supported her by helping raise funds.  In 2014, I too ran with the team and ran my first half marathon. Ever since then I have continued to run for World Vision and this cause to bring hope and life to people who lack clean safe water.

Fast forward to 2018, and I felt God placed a mission on my heart. For a long time, I have had the desire to hike the 2,650 mile long Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. I came up with the idea  to make this hike in order to provide clean water to those families that only use contaminated water. So, I asked God if I do this what should I set as a fundraising goal. I believe he spoke to me and He wants me to raise $100,000. I thought, wow that is big God! How can I do that? That is so much more than I’ve ever done before. I knew that the only way it could happen was if God was in it. 

So, upon my retirement on March 31, 2021, I made the decision to do it. I was able to hike 1,930 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2022. I had to skip portions of the trail due to wildfire closures and a leg injury but now I have a second chance to finish the remaining 720 miles starting in mid July. 

I have gone back to Africa with World Vision and visited Kenya and Ethiopia. I gained a much better world view on this journey and witnessed how so many people must live just to survive. This all started in Sierra Leone and will now take me to finish the Pacific Crest Trail in year two.

I need you. I need your prayers. I need your support. Together we can make the world a better place.  

WAYS YOU CAN HELP ME REACH MY GOAL

1.  Cash or check made out to World Vision.  You can make arrangements to give it to me by contacting me at                 (805) 264-0493 or by mailing it to me at 197 Kent Street, Nipomo, CA  93444.

2.  Online using this web page.

3.  Consider a per mile donation.

4.  Consider a recurring gift that fits your budget through the duration of my hike.

5.  Sponsoring a child on a monthly basis using the link below.  Each child sponsorship will make an impact of $1000 toward reaching my goal.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Help me increase my impact by sponsoring a child! Child sponsorship and clean water funding work hand in hand to address the needs of a community. Choose a child to sponsor or allow a child to choose you using the links below. Be sure to let me know if you sponsor a child so that I can celebrate the start of this awesome journey with you!

BE CHOSEN BY A CHILD  OR  SPONSOR A CHILD
*Keep a note of your sponsored child's first name (if available) and your order number to send back to the TWV participant you are supporting.

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World Vision provides more clean water than any nongovernment organization in the world, providing clean water to one new person every 10 seconds. They work to help communities lift themselves out of poverty for good by addressing issues around clean water, hunger, health, education, economic empowerment, and child protection. About World Vision