MCI students launch S.H.O.W. project

Posted By Greg Vandermeulen

Posted 28 days ago

MCI students Lauren Harms, Coryn Pankratz, Jessica Martens and Spencer Nikkel are selling shoelaces with the words Give Water Give Life . This is just one of many fundraisers to build wells in Mozambique.

Four students are hoping they can convince their school and community to make a difference a world away and so far the response has been great.

MCI student council president Lauren Harms from Calgary, treasurer Coryn Pankratz from Winnipeg, secretary Jessica Martens from Sanford, and vice-president Spencer Nikkel from Lundar, are helping promote the S.H.O.W. (Students Helping Our World) campaign.

Nikkel said the idea first came up last year, to get students involved in international projects.

Their first project is to raise $7,500 for five water wells in Mozambique, Africa. This project is being done through MCC.

“We had a passion for making people aware and passionate about different issues worldwide,” Coryn Pankratz said. “We decided our school was really sheltered and we needed some sort of program for it.”

And focusing on water needs was not really a tough decision when they started examining the issues affecting much of the world’s population.

“Water is the main source of life,” Lauren Harms said. “When there’s communities all over the world that don’t have water, it affects farming, health, livestock...”

And the numbers are staggering.

“One in six people don’t have access to clean drinking water,” Pankratz said. “That’s 1.1 billion worldwide. That blew our minds.”

In fact it is estimated that 40,000 children die each day from lack of clean water.

Nikkel said that makes issues like H1N1, that are heavily reported on, seem minor. “Things are blown so out of proportion.”

“Where are the world’s priorities?” asked Harms.

Why a large part of the world’s population is ignored may be a question they are unable to answer, but it isn’t stopping them from doing something about it.

Harms said they wanted to make sure they gave students a lofty goal, hence the $7,500 for five wells. “It’s fairly high, but it’s totally possible,” Harms said. “We don’t want to set our standards too low.”

Several fundraising initiatives have been started or planned.

Over the summer, Nikkel got hundreds of shoelaces made.

An idea from two years ago, the laces say “Give Water Give Life”. A five dollar donation will get you a pair of either blue or white laces.

Jessica Martens said they are also hoping to organize more fundraisers including a dodgeball and indoor soccer tournament.

“We’re also thinking of doing a benefit concert,” Martens said.

The group already used a chapel to share their message with fellow students.

“We want to create awareness and passion in the school,” Nikkel said. “We want to make people realize there’s a whole world out there.”

And so far the interest has been growing. “It was so positive,” Harms said of the response after their presentation.

She added that helping others worldwide fits in with their faith as well.

“God is love,” she said. “Giving to the rest of the world is a perfectly logical step in that direction.”

Anyone wishing to donate to the project can send a cheque or cash payable to MCI Student Council, with the memo made out to S.H.O.W.

People will also have the opportunity to donate at various MCI events throughout the school year. “We accept any amount,” Pankratz said.