Fundraising

Literature in Action in Blair, NE!

The Book Hive’s A Long Walk to Water solidarity act and fundraiser

One Million Wells is thrilled to dedicate this page to our youngest and pioneering group, The Book Hive in Blair, NE who were the first to approach us with a desire to support our mission. Inspired by reading “A Long Walk to Water,” they decided to organize a fundraiser to raise awareness and gather donations. These children are seeking sponsors and donations and will be carrying water cans to the Missouri River in solidarity with children around the world who make this daily trek to bring water—often not clean—to their families. They even reached out to the author and Salva’s Water Missionary to let them see the ripple effects they continue to make.

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BEE Inspired By The Book Hive - Ways To Make a Difference Today!

Start a reading group or alone read A Long Walk to Water or another book and let it guide you to a service project. Reach out to that author and let them know their writing made a difference and what it inspired you to do. The World always needs to see more goodness and the 2.2 Billion people still lacking clean water would greatly appreciate your efforts to help them!

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Interview between Kelly Snodgras of OMW and Brianna Ayer, founder of The Book Hive regarding the creation of this fundraiser.

KELLY: Brianna, please tell me ALL about IT!! Help me paint a picture of The Bee Hive: the vision behind its founding, the inspiration that sparked its creation, and the subsequent fundraiser that brought the vision to life.

BRIANNA: This is the first year of The Book Hive as a homeschool book club. My children (14, 12, 9) and I love reading and have found stories to be really bonding and helpful in developing morals and character. I also have a child that did not enjoy reading, and I wanted to create an atmosphere that made books come to life, be exciting, and ignite passion that could be shared among friends. That is why my kids, and I created The Book Hive to be an interactive and fun experience. It truly has grown and become an amazing homeschool community. We have between 40-50 kids from ages 5-15 who participate in two different groups. Our older group, the Hornets, read A Long Walk to Water for their monthly reading. Our younger group, The Book Bees, read A Water Princess at their meeting in May.

KELLY: Who and what made y’all choose this book to read? Then how did it evolve into the fundraiser?

BRIANNA: As I was preparing to lead the group, I read the book The Read Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie. In it she wrote about the book A Long Walk to Water. I purchased a copy to read myself and couldn’t put it down. It brought me to tears and it made me envision doing a larger service project with it. I posted about it in our group and began talking with the other moms. Their excitement and support really got the event going. I work as an RN with Jill, Mike’s** wife. That led to our connection with One Million Wells and the rest you know about.

**Jill is our Secretary, fundraiser, and international trainer, Mike Owens’ wife

KELLY: What made you choose this particular walking path?

BRIANNA: We chose the walking path because the route is safe and a reasonable distance for our younger walkers, 2.9 miles. We read that the average distance people walk in other countries for access to water is 3-4 miles and felt this was a good distance for all the kids. We also chose walking to that river because it truly is the only body of water in the area and liked the symbolism. We are actually having a mom’s only practice walk tomorrow night to test out the route, as well as to have a fun evening for the moms!

KELLY: Can you share any other thoughts, facts, details that will be interesting and possibly encourage others to create fundraisers of their own?

BRIANNA: I am truly grateful for your time assisting our project and also your interest in our story. I hope many more families read A Long Walk to Water together. It truly is a harrowing and impactful story. I was amazed to see my own children’s interest in this book as I read it aloud to them. We currently have two daughters (14 and 9) that we are fostering. They did not even like books or reading when they came to live with us. However, with this book, every night they were asking me to read more. They became so engaged in Salva’s story and that really helped solidify my belief that kids could really share passion with the community and are capable of great action.

KELLY: I really appreciate you and everyone in The Bee Hive for creating this wonderful fundraiser to contribute to One Million Wells and bringing awareness to the 2.2 BILLION people still lacking clean water!! Have you tried reaching out to the author by chance? We would love to let them know the ripples they continue to make!

BRIANNA: I heard back from Salva’s Water Missionary today. They are going to send bookmarks for each of the kids and signed copies of the book for prizes!

The author of ALWTW, Linda Sue Park, doesn’t do electronic mail so I will have to mail a flyer to her. I did reach out to the author of The Water Princess though also and am hoping to hear back soon.

KELLY: This brightened my day; I am so excited to hear this!! When you get send me a picture so I can post that too please. Thank you again and we look forward to pictures and video from your fundraiser!! And hopefully a news or radio station or maybe even a social media influencer will take interest and help spread more awareness of the water crisis!

Check out Brianna’s insightful interview featured in her local newspaper, the Washington County Enterprise where she shares her experiences and perspectives.

https://www.enterprisepub.com/stories/walk-for-water,61197