One in 10 people in the world lack access to safe water. That’s almost one billion people who are without something safe to drink every day. Every 19 seconds, a child dies of a water-related disease. These children are forced to drink dirty or contaminated water so that they don’t die of thirst, but get a fatal disease from the water anyway.

The Thirst Project is an organization that is working to lessen the amount of people who go without access to safe clean drinking water and help the water crisis. Members from their organization came in November and spoke about their project to StuCo members, who were moved by what the project stood for.

“When Thirst Project came to Student Council to speak, we learned millions of people don’t have access to clean drinking water, which has led to extreme thirst and awful disease,” junior class president Ricky Cooks said. “Me and my fellow student council officers wanted to make a BIG difference from here in town.”

Under the Thirst program, kids from student council would combine their contributions of raising money with the efforts of the Thirst members to help people gain access to safe drinking water.

“All of the money raised by students from Texas High will be placed in a savings account, and then when the goal of $12,000 is reached, we will send it to Thirst Project,” junior class parliamentarian Slyder Welch said. “That money will be used to build a well in Swaziland, which will supply numerous individuals access to clean water for many years to come.”

StuCo has been working to get the Thirst Project going not only at Texas High, but throughout the community as well.

“We have a ton of projects planned that will hopefully pan out in the next couple of months,” junior class treasurer Raga Justin said. “We’ve got the go ahead on several fundraisers and school-wide projects that we are getting together. We also plan on appealing to local businesses right here in Texarkana and seeing if we can get donations to further the Thirst Project’s cause.”

StuCo plans to sponsor a Thirst Pledge Day to increase awareness of the project throughout the school. It will be held on March 30, and will encourage students to conserve water as well as donate to the cause.

“As of right now, not a lot of students know anything about what we’re trying to do,” Justin said. “With the pledge day, more people will be able to actively participate and lend their support for a great cause, and hopefully it will generate some conversation between people to to donate and participate in the project.”

StuCo members hope to attract support from people who are passionate about the cause, just like they are.

“We always talk about getting involved in our community and making a difference, but the Thirst Project is actually giving us an opportunity to give aid to people who don’t have student councils and such in their communities to help them out,” junior class vice-president Grace Hickey said. “The chance to reach out past Texarkana and give people a real shot at a better life is something I would gladly donate my time and money to, and I can only hope that other people will feel that way as well.”