Join us on this epic journey!
Do you want to make an epic impact in the world while hanging out with the coolest peeps at Heartland and Kansas City?
We are running for our 6th year with Team World Vision to help provide life-changing clean water to children and communities in developing countries. So far we have brought clean water to over 6,000 people!
But this is not just for experienced runners! If you have ever wanted to do something about global poverty, say YES. You can do this.
Team World Vision provides everything you need to cross the finish line: training plans, weekly email encouragement, fundraising guides and incentives, and an incredible race weekend experience.
Why have we partnered with Team World Vision? Because Team World Vision brings clean water to one person every 10 seconds! No other nongovernment organization provides more clean water than Team World Vision.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please email or text our team captain, Todd Johnson at [email protected] or at 913-461-8254.
In Africa, there is a saying: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." Join us and Let's Go Farther Together! 
Important Dates:
May 21st - Team launch at both services!
June 4th - Team lunch after the 11 am service!
June 19th - First Day of training! It's just right foot, left foot, repeat! You got this!
June 24th - First Group Run! Join runners from across Johnson County as we run our weekly long run together! You aren't running alone with Team World Vision! We''' have prayer, snacks, encouragement, marked route, water stops, and music pumping every Saturday morning!
October 21st - Kansas City Half and Full Marathon
28 Clean Water Facts:
Every child deserves clean water: We can help end the global water crisis within our lifetimes.
1. Every day, more than 800 children under 5 die from diarrhea caused by contaminated water, poor sanitation, and unsafe hygiene practices.
2. 1 of every 10 people on the planet have no access to clean water. That’s 771 million people who lack basic drinking water access with 122 million people still using surface water as their source.
3. The global water crisis disproportionately impacts women and girls, who spend an estimated 200 million hours hauling water every day! On average, they walk 6 kilometers each day to haul 40 pounds of water. This robs them of a fulfilling life.
4. Access to clean water plays a critical role in addressing the global hunger crisis that’s put 50 million people at risk of starvation.
5. Water that’s not clean leads to, or worsens, malnutrition by causing diarrhea. This is particularly damaging to the bodies of vulnerable children: nutrition-related factors contribute to nearly half of the deaths of children under 5.
6. With water supplies being depleted or contaminated by extreme weather events like droughts and floods, hundreds of thousands of people are being driven from their homes—ultimately leaving them more susceptible to hunger.
7. There’s also a desperate need for improved sanitation and hygiene since 670 million people have no handwashing facilities and 494 million people still practice open defecation.
8. Access to clean water is foundational to addressing the many factors that perpetuate poverty, including poor nutrition, ill health, lack of education, and being unable to generate income.
Ending the global water crisis is essential to end extreme poverty.
9. World Vision is reaching one new person with clean water every 10 seconds (and one new person with a handwashing facility as well).
10. World Vision is the leading nongovernmental provider of clean water in the developing world, but we do so much more. We address a full range of human needs, including education, health, and economic empowerment. And the foundation is clean water.
11. One of the main things that makes World Vision unique is our community engagement model that enables communities to thrive and transforms lives.
12. We reached 3 million people in 2022 with permanent, sustainable water sources that addressed droughts that contributed to the threat of starvation for 50 million people in 45 countries.
13. We have a presence in nearly 100 countries, including many of the world’s toughest places. Because our staff work where they live—and are part of the community—they’re able to develop the trust that’s needed to solve complex problems.
14. We invest 10–15 years in a community, developing long-term partnerships. During that time our staff work side by side with community members to address the root causes of poverty, empowering them to participate in, own, and continue to drive development.
15. In our 2021–2025 Global WASH Business Plan, we’ve captured our organizational commitment to invest $1 billion over five years to extend the impact of our water, sanitation, and hygiene efforts across 42 countries.
16. We have 1,200 water, sanitation, and hygiene professionals working in 42 countries.
17. We have been able to obtain an additional $4 in leveraged funds for every $1 given to our Global Water Fund. This means that every $1 investment will have an impact of $5. For our Africa Water Fund, a $1 investment becomes $4.80 in impact.
18. As a Christian, faith-based organization, World Vision is uniquely positioned to work with local religious leaders of all faiths as agents of change and advocates for the importance of clean water, improved sanitation, and healthy hygiene behaviors. In fact, 8,763 faith leaders participated in water, sanitation, and hygiene efforts in 2021.
19. An independent study funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and conducted by the University of North Carolina Water Institute in the Greater Afram Plains region of Ghana in 2013 showed that nearly 80% of wells installed by World Vision were still functioning at high levels after nearly two decades. In contrast, previous studies have shown that 30% to 50% of non–World Vision-installed wells are not repaired when they inevitably break down. The reason for this high level of success is that we work with communities to ensure they own the water points and are able to fix them when they break down.
World Vision’s work results in water that continues to flow.
20. In 2015, World Vision and our partners made a commitment to reach 50 million people with clean water by 2030—everyone, everywhere we worked based on our footprint at the time.
21. Our track record shows that we can achieve our goal of reaching 50 million people with clean water. We hit the midpoint of the goal by reaching 25 million people with clean water between October 2015 and September 2022. We didn’t do this in places with good infrastructure and lots of available water, but instead we reached some of the most vulnerable people in the most fragile areas of the planet, including places like the deserts of Niger and Mali, war-torn areas of Sudan and Ethiopia, and the high hills of Honduras.
22. We reach one new person with lasting access to clean water for just $50 and can reach a community of 500 people for $25,000.
23. We committed to reaching everyone in need of water throughout our project areas in Rwanda (1 million people) within five years. We’ve raised the funding needed from U.S. donors ($30 million) and are on track to complete the work in Rwanda in 2023.
24. Based on the success in Rwanda, we now have finish-the-job plans for Zambia—where we will need $50 million from U.S. donors in order to reach 800,000 people, 350 schools, and 125 healthcare facilities with clean water by 2025—and Honduras, where we will need $60 million from U.S. donors to reach 650,000 people, 1,000 schools, and 125 healthcare facilities with clean water by 2027. In 2021 alone, we reached 3 million people with clean water, 2.4 million people with improved sanitation, and 3.6 million people with handwashing facilities. We also reached more than 400,000 people with emergency water and more than 500,000 students with clean water in their schools.
25. World Vision focuses on gender equity in our water programs. We not only reached more than 1.5 million women and girls with clean water but also helped empower 1,624 women to become active in water-related businesses in 2021.
26. World Vision is a global leader in working with rural healthcare facilities to teach infection prevention and establish access to handwashing stations and clean water on-site. This effort also helps ensure that the miracle of birth is a safe experience. WHO and UNICEF issued a call to provide clean water access, hand hygiene services, and sanitation improvements in healthcare facilities, and World Vision responded with a commitment larger than any other NGO: to reach 800 rural healthcare facilities serving 7.2 million people between 2019 and 2021. We delivered on this commitment by reaching 1,460 healthcare centers with clean water. We have now committed to reach a cumulative 2,000 healthcare facilities serving approximately 18 million people between 2019 and 2023.
27. We’re serious about measuring impact and improving our work so we partner with renowned research institutions including the University of North Carolina Water Institute, Emory University, Stanford University, as well as local research institutions.
28. World Vision recognizes the need for strategic partnerships at all levels. We have an exceptional range of donors and partners—including Sesame Street, charity: water, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, Emory University, Stanford University, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and many generous private donors. If you want to change the world, World Vision’s water work is the best place to invest.
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World Vision provides more clean water than any nongovernment organization in the world. They work with communities around the world to help solve the puzzle of poverty—providing things like clean water, nutritious food, education, medical care, economic opportunity, and spiritual development.
