Shine 104.9 Partners With Local Organization to Build Wells in Guatemala

By Makena Horton

UCC Communications Coordinator

Water for Life, founded by Gary and Rod Bartholomew, originally started as a group of volunteers that wanted to provide uncontaminated water for an Adventist orphanage and school in Guatemala, and has since grown into an organized 501(c)(3) charity.

The organization says they seek out to share the good news of Jesus to the people of Guatemala through providing them with clean water that improves health and increases longevity. Water for Life operates entirely based on volunteer donations and all work is accomplished through volunteers, including drilling the wells.

Shine 104.9, the radio ministry of the Upper Columbia Conference, holds an annual one-day, on-air Water for Life event to raise money for the organization. Listeners typically pledge between $15,000-25,000 to the cause. In addition to this event, Shine 104.9 asks people that donate during their annual Sharathon event if they would allow $5 of their donation to be shared with other ministries, including Water for Life. The funds generated from this partnership have assisted Water for Life in drilling and maintaining approximately 200 wells in Guatemala.

Recently, Darin Patzer, general manager for Shine 104.9, was able to travel to Guatemala with volunteers from Water for Life and visit some of the rural villages that have received wells. Patzer shared that his sister was adopted from an orphanage in Guatemala in the 1980s, and Water for Life’s founding family, the Bartholomews, also adopted a daughter from that same orphanage.

“Not only did I see the country where my sister was born, but also to experience first-hand the joy of the villagers in receiving new wells, was rewarding,” said Patzer. “Because of the donations from our local community in the Pacific Northwest, the lives of babies are being saved each year, and the quality of life of villagers is enhanced through fresh water and learning of the Living Water offered by Jesus.”

To learn more about Water for Life, visit guatemalawells.com.