History

HISTORY OF THE WALK

In 2001, George and Molly Greene started Water Mission with a vision that all people have safe water and an opportunity to experience God’s love. Molly also wanted to provide an opportunity for others to understand the day-to-day experience of the 2 billion people affected by the global water crisis. So, in 2007, we created the Walk for Water to simulate the trek women and children make every day to collect water. This year, we are celebrating our 19th Walk.  

George and Molly Greene open the 2014 Walk for Water. 

The first Walk for Water was held in Charleston, SC, which remains the location for our annual flagship event. Since then, churches, community groups, and corporate partners have embraced the vision for the Walk for Water, and the program has spread across the United States. To learn more about other Walks happening throughout the year, visit watermission.org/get-involved.

As the Walk for Water continues to grow, our purpose is the same: to provide communities, organizations, and companies with an opportunity to raise awareness about the global water crisis and funds to fight it.

We are called to care for one another, to share burdens and to lift one another up, but this mission is even more personal. In 2019 Hurricane Dorian devastated Ocracoke with its 7 foot tsunami that flooded 90% of local structures. We were fortunate that our clean water supply was nor affected. Our brothers and sisters in the Bahamas were not as fortunate in the aftermath of Dorian, and Water Mission was there to help. We walk for the access to safe water. We walk for the safety of women and children. We walk because we do not have to stretch our imaginations too far to see that we, too, could one day be in need of Water Mission's assistance.