Light the World with the Gift of Water

From the time our children were young, I remember searching for ways to make Christmas more meaningful. Less about getting,  and more about giving.  Light the World  is a campaign that helps us focus on the light and life of Jesus Christ through serving! Light the World with the Gift of Water is a simple way to help those without clean water today.

I love the traditions that surround this season –  gatherings with family and friends, baking holiday cookies, receiving Christmas cards, decorating the tree!  Christmas is a time to pause and ponder and celebrate the greatest gift of all, the gift of our Savior Jesus Christ. Today, I want to share an idea for giving something that can change lives this Christmas season.  I love the Light the World initiative for so many reasons!

On day two of Light the World, the focus is on Matthew 25:35 “I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink” .  I don’t know about you, but we take getting drink of water for granted in our home! Whenever we want a drink, or need to brush our teeth,  or wash our hands or clean a dish, we go over to the faucet and turn it on.  Out comes clean water. It’s that simple.  No walking for long distances to fill buckets with dirty water, no worrying about getting sick because we our water isn’t safe to drink. This isn’t the case for  1.8  billion people in the world.  Yes, 1.8 BILLION. That number is staggering to me. It leads to diseases and deaths in people of all ages. Deaths and illness that can be prevented if clean water is available.

That’s where we can help! The LDS Church  is encouraging people like you and me to consider donating to a cause that will help provide safe water to communities and individuals throughout the world. Our daughter, Corrine (Mint Arrow) traveled with her husband Neil and a group of influencers recently to the Dominican Republic to learn about the need for clean water around the world and to establish a relationship with people who work together to raise funds to help set up clean water sources to give hope and help to those in need. Corrine shares her moving experience in the video below. This short video explains the effort to help provide safe, clean water through the organization Healing Waters...

This year for our neighbor gift, we chose to donate to Healing Waters in honor of, and in behalf of our friends and neighbors. We shared a letter explaining the donation in their honor;  a Light the World calendar;  a ribbon to tie on the recipients door handle if they want to participate in giving to this cause, and a water bottle with a tag attached that contains a QR code for giving to help fund a village with clean water in 2018!

I’ve shared links for all of the items above and list what you’ll need to share with your friends to make it simple if you’d like to do the same. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be a part of something that changes lives?  To give the gift of clean water that may save a life, or two or three… if we all give just a few dollars, we can make a difference!
I hope you all have a  joyful Christmas and continue to look for ways to give of your time, love and light to those who need a lift. Thanks for always being such a  generous and connected community of readers.  Merry Christmas!
with love,
Si

Materials I used:

1. Letter explaining the donation, which you can personally sign:  light the world letter to friends
2. Link to free printable  Light the World Calendar and tags for water bottles from Rhonna Designs (the tags are available free after you download the app).
3. Ribbon in 4 yard spools. Each spool yields about 4-5 ribbons which I placed in the plastic sleeve along with the calendar and letter. I purchased ribbon at a craft store.
4. Bottles of water from Costco with tags tied on (from Rhonna Designs) which has the QR code to donate directly to Healing Waters.
5. Plastic sleeves for the letter, ribbon and calendar.

This is a great project for the whole family, and perfect family night activity which can be used for many of the days of giving in December.