VHCHE partners with Orange Hunt Swim Team and the Arlington Diocese Missions’ Office on its mission to improve the lives of children in underserved and underprivileged communities locally and globally.
VHCHE, in partnership with the Orange Hunt Swim Team located in West Springfield, VA and with the sponsorship of the Office of Missions of the Arlington Diocese hosted a very successful Second Annual Swim A Thon fundraising event at Orange Hunt Swim and Tennis Club on Thursday July 13th, 2023. About 150 swimmers, parents, and volunteers of all ages, from mini sharks to master swimmers, took part in the event and swam a combined 5,500 laps (about 85 miles) in a 25-meter outdoor pool to raise money to fund the drilling and construction of drinking water wells in rural Cameroon. The wells will be supported by a submersible pump, a covered storage tower, a 1000-gallon storage tank, and several distribution points with multiple faucets and will serve over three thousand children and families and significantly alleviate the burden of children walking miles in some instances to fetch water from the nearest spring for their family. This competition allowed swimmers to challenge themselves and increase their personal best, and parents who participated with their children used this as an opportunity to empower their children, create a family bond, and encourage them to do selfless acts for others while improving their skills. Records at this event included mini sharks swimming a combined mile, a first time 6-year-old swimming 18 laps, 15-year-old swimming 5 miles, a parent swimming 100 laps, and several competitors going well above and beyond their stated goals for the competition! This fundraising event scored a participation of over 100 individual donors!
VHCHE plans to initiate construction for three new drinking water well projects in Cameroon in late 2023, adding to the three other well projects that were completed in 2022 and early 2023. When completed, these combined projects will be bringing hope to about 8,000 children and families in six rural villages in Cameroon. Each well project costs about $10,000.
VHCHE is a Virginia non-profit corporation and tax exempt under the Internal Revenue Service rules section 501(c)(3) and recently received the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) approval for listing in the Office of Catholic Directory (OCD) as Catholic Charity. VHCHE’s mission of bringing joy to other children was born out of sorrow, and the help VHCHE is providing to children in need was built out of desperation; it’s a nonprofit organization that was founded by grieving parents to celebrate and remember their daughter through health and education programs that support its mission. VHCHE relies on the support of general donors and benefactors to accomplish this mission.
Many thanks to all the many awesome volunteers and sponsors who made this event a success, especially the planning committee of Alicia, Megan, Allison, Laurie, Jenn, Jill, Nick, Miles, and Charlotte!
The Orange Hunt Swim and Tennis Club community really rocked this out of the park! Photos and videos of the Swim A Thon are available at https://www.facebook.com/viridianeshope.vhche/.
You can still make a tax deductible donation in support of the cause.
Ways to support:
- Sponsor a swimmer for any amount, for any number of laps swam, anywhere from 1 lap to 66 laps. We have a donor willing to match the first 5 swimmers sponsored for up to $500.
- Match contributions up to a certain amount for sponsorship made for swimmers.
- Donate any amount to support the cause.
- Fund a drinking water well for $10,000. These wells are powered by electricity, with a 1000-gallon reserve tank and two distribution systems with four faucets each and will serve a population of about 2,000 to 5,000 people.
More information about the swim-a-thon can be found here.
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