MorningStar Making a Difference – 4th Annual Quench Event
At MorningStar Senior Living, we are resolved to be a company full of servant-minded, purpose-driven leaders in our senior communities and throughout the world. Every day we seek to make a difference in the lives of our seniors and in the lives of those in need around the globe. Through the MorningStar Foundation, we offer abiding support to philanthropic initiatives making an impact where it’s needed most. One such organization is Lifewater International (now Water For Good).
MorningStar has been an abiding partner of Lifewater since 2019, investing in its transformative approach to provide clean water and sanitation to the world’s most remote areas while bringing the good news of Jesus Christ.
On July 30th, MorningStar held its 4th annual “Quench” charity golf event in support of Lifewater/Water For Good. Dozens of our vendors and partners showed up to sponsor the event and play in the tournament, raising over $233,000 to provide safe water access, sanitation and hygiene to impoverished villages in Ethiopia.
Throughout the day, golfers learned about some of the realities families face living without safe water. To get a glimpse into what women and children endure every day as they walk miles to fetch water, golfers were challenged to carry two 40-pound water jugs for one hole, learning that the median time spent walking and gathering water in rural regions of Ethiopia is two hours a day. What’s worse? The water they spend hours retrieving leads to severe illness in their villages.
Without clean water, life is a torment. 703 million people around the world lack basic access to safe water, and every two minutes, a child under the age of 5 dies from a preventable waterborne disease. Lifewater/Water For Good is working to solve this crisis by providing access to safe water and improved sanitation and hygiene one village at a time.
Through Quench, 200 participants got to play a role in carrying out this work. Proceeds from Quench will provide hygiene education, sanitation (latrines), and safe water access for more than 3,370 people in remote regions of Ethiopia, helping families thrive and children return to school healthy and free from waterborne illnesses.
MorningStar’s Director of Philanthropy, Christine Jaeger, had the opportunity to travel with Lifewater to Ethiopia in November of 2023 and visit some of the villages supported through Quench and the MorningStar Foundation.
“To see first-hand the impact our team members and partners have made in these villages was overwhelming,” she said. “Witnessing the difference between a village without safe water and one with safe water access was staggering. In one, mothers were climbing down into a pit in the ground to collect filthy water while their children waited with somber faces. In the next, clean water was pouring out from a well in the center of the village, with vibrant and healthy children running around, smiling and being kids.”
Children supported by the MorningStar Foundation in Dodola, Ethiopia
Through supporting the work of Lifewater/Water For Good, The MorningStar Foundation helped make that transformation possible, changing thousands of lives forever. “One life changed is invaluable. Thousands of lives changed? There are no words to describe how much that means,” Jaeger said.
MorningStar team members and those we partner with embody what it means to be servant hearted. When we come together for a cause, our reach is further than we ever thought possible. Together, we will keep shining our light, giving what we can, and impacting the world for good each and every day.
MorningStar Gives Back to the World Through Philanthropy and Volunteering
Interested in learning more about how MorningStar team members and residents impact the world for good? From volunteering with local nonprofits, to raising funds for the poor and most vulnerable around the world, MorningStar Senior Living is full of servant-hearts looking for ways to shine our light and make a difference in lives near and far. Curious? Learn how you or your loved one can be a part of it today.
