Feb. 26, 2010
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — When the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team plays host to its final regular season home game on Sunday, Feb. 28 (Noon CT), the Commodores are asking fans to abandon their normal black and gold hues in favor of wearing blue to bring awareness to an international crisis.
The “Well Worth It” campaign is committed to preventing waterborne diseases caused by contaminated water and inadequate sanitation systems in rural Kenya. Well Worth It has pledged to raise the $70,000 necessary to build a borehole well in the village of Emori-Joi, Kenya.
The Well Worth It initiative was brought to the attention of Vanderbilt women’s basketball by senior Merideth Marsh, whose roommate, swimmer Jess Cohen, traveled to Kenya during the summer of 2008 and saw first-hand the dire need for clean-water solutions in Africa.
Vanderbilt officials plan to make a tradition of merging basketball’s Senior Day with the promotion of a community service effort important to the team’s seniors.
While the Commodores will not be wearing blue jerseys for the game, the color will be integrated into the team’s pregame attire. Members of the basketball staff will show their support by wearing blue as well. Vanderbilt’s opponent for Sunday’s regular season finale is South Carolina, whose colors are garnet and black.
Sunday’s game will be broadcast live by Fox Sports South, giving the Commodores a larger audience to the message of the Well Worth It campaign.
Those interested in assisting Well Worth It with monetary donations can go to the web site for Free The Children, the campaign’s umbrella organization: a non-profit specializing in sustainable development that has involved more than one million youth in 45 countries. Information on Free The Children is available at http://www.freethechildren.org
Water Facts
- 1 in 6 people in the world have no access to clean and safe drinking water
- Water-related diseases are one of the leading causes of disease and death in the world
- A person can live weeks without food, but only days without water
- The average individual in America uses 100-176 gallons of water each day
- The average family in Africa uses 5 gallons of water each day