This is a very special year.

What began as a dream of hosting a local race to raise money for clean water by locals Peg Peters and Ken Baerg, blossomed into an annual city-wide event. It is now Run for Water’s 15th year! ACS has been an enthusiastic supporter of Run for Water for over 10 years.

Our elementary school kids have fundraised surprising amounts over the years, sometimes over $10 000 a year! To date, over 2 million people in rural Ethiopia have received clean water and education because of Abbotsford’s Run for Water, and we can be proud that our little elementary school has been a huge part of that! 

More than Just Running

ACS joined as a partner school with Run for Water in 2009. This was a grassroots opportunity for our school to create global awareness, share precious resources, and empower girls and women. Stories were told of girls no longer having to spend the day walking to bring dirty water home to their families. Instead, now the village could have clean water and girls could go to school.

In 2016, we created a banner for Gereb Abdella, the village we partnered with, with the inscription: “I will not forget you. See I have engraved you into the palm of my hand” (Isaiah 49:15) to let villagers know they were known to us, to God, and not forgotten. We had the honour of bringing the banner to the village, meeting local educators, walking in the new school, and visiting people in their homes.

Susan developed a three year cycle of Science-STEM/ADST curriculum for Abbotsford partner schools explaining how water filtration works, what is in dirty water through use of microscopes, the water crisis in Ethiopia, how that affects local people, etc. Students’ entrepreneurship for fundraising came alive during our Marketo Days, cupcake sales, and personal fundraising.

And of course, students ran—both in our own school mini runs, as well as the city-wide race day at Mill Lake Park.

Nothing Can Stop Us

The pandemic affected the globe in 2020, including Run for Water. Schools were shut down and the race was called off. In 2021, schools were able to re-join virtually, running as many kilometers as possible. Sponsors from the greater community donated money on our school’s behalf to the tune of $35 per kilometer. Students also raised funds on their own. Individual classes engaged in the curriculum and virtual assembly videos were created. In spite of the challenges, we still raised around $4000 from our families’ and sponsors’ generous partnerships! Thank you for your support!

This year, things are back in full swing! We are fundraising with creativity and excitement!

Our mini-run takes place on May 27. Some of us will join in the city-wide race on May 29 too. We are so very proud to partner with Run for Water and communities in Ethiopia raising their own money for essential water and school projects!