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Submitted photo/Candace Nelson Photography

Submitted photo/Candace Nelson Photography

Submitted photo/Candace Nelson Photography

Submitted photo/Candace Nelson Photography

Submitted photo/Candace Nelson Photography

The WOD for Water event in Troy on Saturday raised $80,000, bringing the total amount raised in Troy to more than half a million dollars since 2012.

Those numbers are important in making clean water available to countries including Uganda, Chad and Cambodia. It is, perhaps, even more important though that it provides opportunities for the people in those remote areas to know the love and saving grace of Jesus Christ, said Jason Jones, who along with Derrick Irons organized the “Workout of the Day” for Water in Troy.

“When we were searching for a way to help alleviate the water crisis throughout the world, we wanted the gospel message to also be made available to the people,” Jones said. “Neverthirst, a clean water ministry in Birmingham, was already doing that. Their wells were being dug in places where there was already a minister. So, with the water, also came an opportunity to minister to the people in those villages. Neverthirst was our answer.”

Jones said Neverthirst is to WOD for Water in Troy what the American Cancer Society is to Relay for Life.

Every dollar that is donated to WOD for Water in Troy goes to end the water crisis.

That is possible because Crossfit Iliom assumes all expenses incurred by Neverthirst in its quest to bring clean water to those without.

Jones said more than one billion people were without the benefit of clean water in 2010. Eight years later, that number has been reduced to 600 million.

“That is still a large number but, when you consider that 400 million people now have clean water that did not, then you see the importance of what is being done,” he said.

And it is through the support of those who participate in events like Saturday’s WOD  for Water in Troy that those numbers are being reduced.

“On Saturday, we had 23 teams of two to participate,” Jones said. “They came from all over the state and we had a lot of people from Troy – local businesses and individuals, and fraternities and sororities at Troy University – that made WOD for Water 2018 such a success. We appreciate their support. I have seen first-hand the difference their support is making in the lives of millions of people.”

Four years ago, Jones went to India to visit several villages where WOD for Water supported wells were in operation.

“On television, you can see the destruction caused by a hurricane but, unless you are there to see the destruction all around you, it’s not possible to know what it’s like,” Jones said. “It was that way for me. I had seen images of what it was like in villages where there was no clean water. But when I got off that plane and walked out on the city streets and saw the filth – there is just no way to describe what it’s like. In the villages, it was much worse.”

Today, there are still millions of people who suffer from the lack of clean water. But there are millions who are now blessed – with clean water and the knowledge of a loving God.

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