By Karen Martin
Reporter
kamartin@elkintribune.com


Missionaries overseas will be drinking clean water because of the efforts of 12 girls, ranging in ages from seven to 12, who are members of the Girls in Action, GA's, at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in State Road.

Pure Water, Pure Love ministry began in 1997 with the purpose of helping support missionaries with pure, safe, drinking water by providing filters and water purification equipment through the Women's Mission Union. Because of the overwhelming support of the ministry, the WMU was able to expand Pure Water, Pure Love to include assistance with disaster relief in addition to digging wells and other long-term solutions for providing clean water in areas where missionaries serve.

The GA's took on the Pure Water, Pure Love project in January selling bottles of water, collecting funds from church members, saving their soda and snack money and by placing a five gallon vessel in the vestibule of the church. The girls collected $2,013 total, $2,000 of which will be sent to Pure Water, Pure Love.

The idea of the project was proposed to the girls by Sharon Poindexter, Donna Jones and Andrea Brown, the GA leaders earlier this year.

"Last year we discovered that other groups of GA's were participating in the Pure Water, Pure Love project and we felt that this would be a worthwhile project for the girls to participate in," Poindexter said. "Carrie Jones, who is Donna's daughter and a former GA designed a label that we placed on 225 small bottles of water. The label had the Pure Water, Pure Love logo along with the bible verse from Mark 9:41 that reads "I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of cold water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward."

The GA's presented everyone who attended church on Aug. 3 with a bottle of free water and asked them to donate to the project.

"The donations were awesome," Poindexter said. "When the vessel that was placed in the vestibule was emptied in Sept., the combined totals numbered over $2,000. Vacation bible school monies always go to the missionaries and this year, $831 went to the Pure Water, Pure Love fund."

"The accomplishment of the girl's efforts in such a short time was remarkable," Jones said. "We are very proud of the commitment the girls made to help provide clean water for those less fortunate in other areas of the world."

The girls strived to gather their donations by the beginning of Sept. to send in to the Fund. The cost of an average water filter is $250, and the cost of drilling a well in some of the remote areas the missionaries serve in, escalates into the thousands.

"This is truly a worthy project to be involved in," Poindexter said. "Anyone who would like to participate may contact Pure Water, Pure Love in Birmingham, Al at (205) 991-4091 or visit the website at www.purewater@wmu.org.