500,000 Swiss francs donations for clean water

Inspired by the success of the Walk for Water charity at the GF Piping Systems site in Irvine (USA), held for the first time in 2016, GF initiated the Walk for Water globally. Albershausen (Germany), Irvine and Easton (USA), Jakarta (Indonesia), and Schaffhausen (Switzerland) were the venues from 20 to 22 September 2019.

The turnout was enormous:  More than 1'000 participants, among them GF employees and representatives of 125 business partners and customers, grabbed a bucket of water after having donated their sign-up fee. They then carried the buckets on a course between two and five kilometers long. On average, that is the distance women and children have to cover every day in order to collect water.

With 350'000 Swiss francs, the outcome of the worldwide involvement, resulting from the sign-up fees and voluntary donations, is overwhelming: Combined with the added contributions by GF and the Clean Water Foundation, the Walk for Water generated a total sum of a half million Swiss francs. All proceeds are donated in full to Water Mission, a longtime NGO-partner of GF, supporting clean water projects, mainly in Malawi and Indonesia.

Joost Geginat, Head of GF Piping Systems, represented GF at the event and admired the commitment of all people involved: "So many GF colleagues and business partners participated in the Walk for Water. Considering that this is the first year we launched the walk worldwide, this is a great success. We can all be a little proud of that. Many thanks to all participants and the organizing committee."

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2.2 billion people worldwide have no access to clean drinking water. Every 37 minutes, a person worldwide dies from a disease caused by contaminated drinking water. To provide support in a targeted manner, GF Piping Systems, a worldwide expert for the reliable transport of water, chemicals, and gases, called for the Walk for Water. The charity walk is one of the initiatives by GF to financially support clean drinking water and sanitation in developing countries and areas affected by natural disasters. This commitment prevents the spreading of fatal diseases and enables people to use their resources for education, infrastructure, and other basic needs for a better quality of life.

Since 2002, GF with its Clean Water Foundation has been committed to improving the water supply in developing countries and areas affected by natural disasters. To date, GF has invested more than nine million Swiss francs in Clean Water projects.