GIRLS GATHER FUNDS TO SEND P&G'S PURIFIER OVERSEAS
By Cindy Kranz
AMELIA - A group of Amelia Middle School eighth-grade girls stirred a stew of brown water, mud, dirt, sticks and grass.
That stew would be drinking water in African countries and other Third World nations, except it would be further tainted with human and animal wastes.
But the students have added a packet of PUR, a product developed by Procter & Gamble to purify dirty water.
In less than a half hour, the brown water has turned clear and good enough to drink. Using a paper towel to strain out sticks and grass, they poured the water into a glass.
"It still has a little bit of a dirty taste, and it's kind of a little bit chlorinated," said eighth-grader Lauren Wittmann. "It's clean, and it's just a lot better than what we started out with."
For two weeks this month, the students have raised money to purchase packets of PUR at 3 cents each. One packet cleans 10 liters or 2.5 gallons of water.
As of Friday, the eighth-grade classes had contributed $222, but not all of the money has been counted. The money will be sent to P&G's Children's Safe Drinking Water Program.
Nancy Gandersman, a counselor at the school, guided the project, which was the result of a student trip to Cincinnati State Technical & Community College last fall.
Twenty-eight seventh- and eighth-grade girls, who are gifted in math, made the trip. While there, some students participated in a chemistry lab, where they saw a demonstration of PUR.
"I thought it was really amazing, because just a little packet could save so many lives," Cayla Wolfangel said. "I thought it was really sad how many people died. I just wanted to get involved."
A small group of students came up with he idea for a fundraiser, called "A Drop in the Bucket," which began two weeks ago.
To spread awareness, they demonstrated the water purification process to their classmates. Students initially thought the dirty water was gross and vowed not to drink it. They changed their minds when they saw the transformation.
"They drank tons of water," Lauren said.
"Everybody wanted seconds," Paige Closson added.
The girls also showed a video of conditions in poor countries. Students learned that people walk as much as 10 miles to collect filthy water and that 4,000 people die a day because of contaminated water.
"There are bacteria and viruses in it that can give them deadly diarrhea," Lauren said. "Their rivers and stuff are just so contaminated. They're drinking sewer water. It just kind of gives me the creeps thinking about it."
After the presentation, they placed buckets in each eighth-grade homeroom to collect money.
The project has so many positive educational and service aspects, Gandersman said, including introducing the girls to more career possibilities and giving them a greater appreciation of what they have.
"Every time I drink or I turn on a faucet, I think about how people are dying because they don't have clean water," Paige said.
It also showed them, Gandersman said, that individuals can make a difference in the world.
"It's a really good feeling knowing we're actually ouot saving lives doing something as simple as this," Samantha Lee said.
