The Spokane Valley Church Fundraiser Returns | religion

SPOKANE – Valley Real Life Church’s annual Joy to the World holiday fundraiser has raised more than $ 750,000 for local and global causes since its inception in 2015.

Church leaders now hope this will be the year they break the $ 1 million mark.

The Spokane Valley Church’s latest Joy to the World campaign, Project H20, kicked off the weekend before Thanksgiving with a goal of raising at least $ 250,000 to build wells in Uganda and a water refill station in the Philippines. The campaign runs until the end of the year.

The project aims to raise enough for 28 wells and a water refill station. Any well that costs $ 6,000 to build will provide clean water to more than 6,000 people every day, according to Valley Real Life.

“We need help to make the dream come true of providing these churches with the support they need most,” said Valley Real Life Pastor Steve Allen. “For every dollar raised, a life is changed forever.”

Last year Valley Real Life raised $ 305,000 to help pay millions in medical debts from families in the Northwest.

By last week, Allen said the Church had reached nearly half of the H20 target of $ 250,000.

“It’s wonderful. We haven’t even made our big push,” said Allen, noting that the Church’s big push often happens around Christmas time.

Allen said he and other Church members decided on the matter behind Project H20 through a partnership Valley Real Life partnered with Ronald Kizito, pastor of Living Spring Church in Fort Portal, Uganda.

Valley Real Life has partnered with Living Spring for nearly a decade on a variety of community development efforts, such as building houses and buying land for plants, he said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 884 million people worldwide lack basic drinking water supplies.

While Project H20 has a more mundane focus, most previous Valley Real Life campaigns have had more of a local component, Allen said.

With Joy to the World, Allen said, fellowship members are campaigning around critical needs where the church believes “we can make a real dent”.

“We see the need all over the world,” he said. “We want to be able to help people in our backyard, but we also have multiple partnerships around the world with people we trust and have needs.

For more information or to make a donation, visit the Church’s website at vrl.church/joytotheworld.