The Bucket Ministry, based in Texas, is changing and saving lives around the world by providing safe drinking water to those who are without. According to CBN News, the ministry’s mission is to share the love of God while helping to diminish illnesses born out of contaminated drinking water in undeveloped countries. With 771 million people without access to safe drinking water, according to the World Health Organization, The Bucket Ministry is responding to a desperate need of people around the world, relieving the stress of simply taking a sip of water.
The founder of The Bucket Ministry, Chris Beth, who is also a wealthy businessman, said that he found the necessity of the ministry after being offered a cup of water retrieved directly from a river while in the Brazilian Amazon. Speaking of the local host, Beth said, “I expected her to go into a refrigerator and get a bottle of water…But what she did in turn was she went out onto this little plank on this house, bent down with two cups, they were irregular, they were mix matched and cracked and she filled these two cups up with river water.” It was during this moment, Beth said, that he heard God telling him to “help them.”
As soon as he returned home, Beth found a filter at a camping supply store that is used to remove harmful bacteria from dirty water. Beth explained that this filter captures dirt, debris, parasites, and all that makes it unsafe to drink. Hooked up to a bucket, the straw works to clean the water and eliminate the uncertainty of whether or not drinking a cup of water will make someone sick.
Darrel Larson, the international director for Sawyer Products, the company which makes the filter the ministry uses, knows the desperate need around the world. His company donates 90% of its annual profits to clean water projects. When Beth approached him to get clean drinking water to Kibera, Sawyer donated all 95,000 filters to the 95,000 households. All together, this donation has helped 400,000 individuals get access to clean drinking water.
The Bucket Ministry had made a tremendous impact on the communities they serve. In Kibera alone, it has been reported that the number of clinics had to close down or be consolidated because less people are showing up sick from water-born illnesses.
The filter is a miracle to many who witness the dirty water change to clear water. Beth explained that the ministry has brought a new sense of hope to the communities they serve. In one case, mothers did not name their babies knowing that they may not survive, but now their outlook has changed.
This simple life-saving tool that turns dirty water clean is saving people around the world from unnecessary suffering. The Bucket Ministry is also proving the power faith has to change lives and is bringing more people, including Beth himself, closer to God.