Two weeks. In that amount of time lives can be changed—sometimes forever. Just ask Brenda Koinis, Kathryn Runman-Zimney, and Devin Klaserner.

Koinis is one of the founders of The H2O Project, an organization dedicated to educating people about the lack of clean drinking water around the world. It also serves to help raise funds for groups who are working to provide clean water.

It all started when she saw a video from World Vision. It showed a three foot long Guinea worm being removed from a child’s leg. The child had gotten the worm by drinking dirty water.

“After I finished crying from watching the video, I knew I had to do something,” Koinis said. “The Holy Spirit used it to pierce my heart. I prayed and God gave me the idea.”

That idea was the H2O Project. It challenges participants for two weeks to:

• Make water your only beverage
• Save the money you would have spent on drinks
• Contribute one hundred percent of the saved money to a well drilling organization

That idea has helped raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for groups working to provide clean drinking water in places such as Kitui, Africa.

Kathryn Runman-Zimney, Mission Education Coordinator for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, is very familiar with the need for clean drinking water. The Archdiocese formed a global solidarity partnership with the people of Kitui.

"The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis has a Global Solidarity Partnership with the Diocese of Kitui, Kenya,” said Runman-Zimney. “Our partnership is based on mutuality and relationship—not about trying to ‘fix’ things for the people of Kitui. We have spent three years in relationship—forming common committees in each diocese, reading books together, and creating a common mission statement—before we began to address the needs of the people of Kitui. We care about one another; when the people of Kitui cry, the people of St. Paul and Minneapolis cry as well. We received calls and e-mails immediately when our bridge collapsed last August. Our office, The Center for Mission, is in touch with people of the Diocese of Kitui daily, and especially hold all the people of Kenya in prayer during these days of unrest surrounding the recent election."

Runman-Zimney got in touch with The H2O Project and was Koinis’ first large group. The archdiocese began a pilot project during Lent 2005 with school children. “They learned water awareness,” Runman-Zimney said. “They really got the idea that people were suffering.”

The pilot was so successful, it was offered diocesan wide in Advent 2005. The group asked people to give the gift of self for someone else. People were asked to be in solidarity with the people of Kitui, to remember them in prayer, and to drink only water. So far more than $100,000 has been raised. This project has been so successful, it has grown beyond The H2O Project.

Runman-Zimney said, “The young people in our archdiocese really understand the idea of solidarity when drinking water during the H2O Water Challenge. They now realize the importance of clean drinking water for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Kenya, and have a new awareness about water issues in our world. Pen pals have been formed between schools, and we feel because our partnership is all about relationships, the H2O Project has really taken off.”

At the recent National Catholic Youth Conference in Columbus, Ohio, Brenda Koinis and her husband staffed a booth offering information on The H2O Project. She saw a lot of enthusiasm from the youth she met. They would ask how one dollar could provide safe drinking water for one person for one year. Most put on a wristband. Many donated money out of their pocket.

One teen who put on a wristband and took the challenge was Devin Klaserner from Covington, Kentucky. When he stopped by the booth, he was surprised at how the United States takes water for granted. “We drink pop and milk while people struggle for clean water,” he said. “It was nice to help someone who needed it.”

The challenge started off harder than he expected. “It was hard to remember at first. I begged for a CapriSun but my friend reminded me about the challenge. After a couple of days it got easier.”

Not only did he help others by completing the challenge, he also helped himself. “I felt so much better when I drank only water. I now choose water over Coke.”

Since the conference, thousands of wristbands have been ordered. “They will see how giving up a little will do a lot,” said Koinis.