When the Cycling4water team biked into Davidson last Monday they had already travelled over 2,000 kilometres and raised enough money to build 20 water wells in four African countries, but they still had a long way to go.
The four-man cycling team of Timo Itkonen, Richard Blaschek, Rob Montgomery and Mike Woodard are biking from Victoria, B.C., to St. John’s, Nfld., over the course of 54 days this summer with a goal of raising $510,000 or enough money to build 60 water wells in Benin, Togo, Tanzania and Ethiopia. The goal supports the work of Global Aid Network (GAiN), a Christian worldwide humanitarian relief and development organization that has already provided 829 water wells to needy communities around the globe.
“On average each well delivers water to about 1,000 people,” said Montgomery, who decided to bike across Canada for a worthy cause as a way to celebrate his 60th birthday this year and initially proposed the idea to Woodard. “They are not just little residential wells. They are for whole communities or villages and so with the wonderful work (GAiN’s) doing we decided that we wanted to partner with them.”
Woodard, who admitted he needed about three months to decide he’d accept the offer to bike across Canada, said the fact that caught his attention and forced him into action is the World Health Organization note that a child dies from water-related diseases every 21 seconds. He said the thought of contributing to the goal of providing 60,000 people with clean water motivated him to sign up for the ride.
“One of the things I was contemplating just riding into this community is the 20 wells that are pledged now really have been championed by somebody,” said Woodard, noting people can donate through their cycling4water.ca website. “About a week ago a friend of mine said ‘you know we’re going to sign up for a well. We don’t have $8,500, which is how much one well costs, but we’ve got lots of friends and relatives and we’re just going to ask them to come together to provide water for one village and transform that village as a team effort.'”
Montgomery said when he turns 60 on August 19 and the four-man team is completing their final leg of the tour on the East Coast, his hope is to have a cake with 60 candles on it not so much to celebrate his birthday, but to celebrate the building of 60 wells. He said the ride across Canada is a great way to reach that goal because it also gives the team a chance to experience the beauty of Canada and they’ve already seen some great sights so far.
To read more please see the July 21 print edition of The Davidson Leader.