In many countries around the world, getting access to clean water is a long and arduous journey. According to the Thirst Project, every 21 seconds a child dies from a water related disease.

Key Club has raised around $11,000 so far to support the Thirst Project, an organization that helps build water projects in developing countries. The Thirst Project has given out bio-sand water filters and installed rainwater catchment systems. The three main events Key Club collaborated this past October on were: World’s Fair, a dodgeball tournament, and the Thirst Project carnival.

Tyler Sanchez ’20 and Julie Mathews ’20 have been fundraising for Thirst Project since last year as co-presidents of Key Club. They worked with Diversity Council for World’s Fair, Rotary Youth Club for the dodgeball tournament, and on November 8 Rotary Youth Club and Geography Club will organize Trivia Night.

“During our freshman year, Key Club brought in two representatives from the Thirst Project to speak on behalf of the cause,” Mathews said. “Last year, our board formed this idea because of our shared interest in helping defeat this crisis, and we realized that we could truly make an impact if we devoted our efforts to raising funds for the Thirst Project.”

The first Thirst Project event in October was World’s Fair, which was held on October 5. World’s Fair is an annual event at Stevenson that celebrates the diverse cultures of students’ heritage. Foods of different countries were available for purchase, and the proceeds went to the Thirst Project.

The next event was the dodgeball tournament on October 19, which was organized by Rotary Youth Club. Each participant paid $8 to play, which also went towards the Thirst Project, and the winning teams earned a $100 gift card or Culver’s coupons.

Deepti Ayyappaneni ’21 participated in the tournament with a group of her friends who are also part of Rotary Youth Club. While her team did not win, she still found the event not only entertaining, but also meaningful.

“I believe the Thirst Project is incredible, so I wanted to help this cause,” Ayyappaneni said. “Raising money for people in need has been my favorite part.”

On October 26, Key Club, Art from the Heart, and Green Team organized the Thirst Project Carnival. Elementary school kids came to the carnival dressed in Halloween costumes such as a burger and Elmo. Over a dozen Stevenson students volunteered by leading activities such as wrapping the Stevenson Patriot in toilet paper and playing basketball with attendees.

Matt Li ’20 is in Green Team, where he organized a Thirst Project booth with his fellow e-board members. “Key Club contacted Green Team about having an environmentally themed booth,” Li said. “We based our booth around showing exactly how much water is available for human consumption among the total water on Earth.”

Li’s booth had several successively smaller boxes that showed the water on Earth. Some booths served to educate attendees about their water consumption, while others were more Halloween-themed and allowed students to earn tickets they could redeem to win a prize.

“Everyone has been super supportive in helping each other’s events out, and we wouldn’t be where we are without them.” Sanchez said. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen seven seemingly random clubs work together towards one goal, and watching it blossom has been my most memorable experience at Stevenson.”