{"id":5322,"date":"2014-11-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/?p=5322"},"modified":"2024-05-08T17:52:21","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T17:52:21","slug":"mark-whitehead-wod-for-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/blog\/mark-whitehead-wod-for-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Movers & Shakers: Mark Whitehead of WOD for Water"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WOD<\/a>
\nIn 2009 Mark Whitehead and Forrest Walden founded Neverthirst to bring clean water to people around the world by using a fitness workout as a fundraising event<\/a> they call WOD for Water. Five years later not only have they helped 300,000 people, they\u2019ve had an outpouring response that has forced them to scale up their fundraising arm by embedding CauseVox into their website.<\/p>\n

Mark tells us more about WOD for Water\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n

Tell me about WOD for Water.<\/h2>\n

WOD for Water is a fundraising arm for\u00a0Neverthirst<\/a>, a nonprofit ministry focused on helping people around the world gain access to clean water.\u00a0Currently, we\u2019re building wells in India, South Sudan, Sudan, and Cambodia.<\/p>\n

\"wod-for-water\"<\/p>\n

Ultimately what excites us the most is people who get to hear the gospel of Jesus for the first time because of local pastors who are helping to lead these well initiatives. These pastors enter these villages with two messages– a message of an upcoming water well that will be built and the good news of Jesus.<\/p>\n

When clean water comes to a village that doesn\u2019t have it, it really builds up the pastor and gives him favor with the people of the village. One pastor said, \u201cThese people won\u2019t have anything to do with me even when I tell them water is coming. But when the water comes, they love me.\u201d When villages have access to clean water, it makes them open to the message of the pastors we\u2019re training.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s different about this year and last year?<\/h2>\n

Well, we\u2019ve always had to raise money and last year was the first time we tried CauseVox. This is our second year using CauseVox \u2013 except on a bigger scale. Because of the tremendous response to our fundraising events, we have embedded their platform into our website.<\/p>\n

Tell me more about your fundraising events.<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s a workout of the day where people who typically do functional fitness type workouts come together on a Saturday morning and do a fundraising workout to benefit Neverthirst.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got 400 people with the same mindset– people wanting to take care of their bodies and also wanting to help people.\u00a0I actually do the workout daily and I love it.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the backstory of WOD for Water?<\/h2>\n

Forrest Walden and I decided to start Neverthirst together, but Forrest is also the founder of Iron Tribe Fitness<\/a>. He knew when he opened Iron Tribe that he would try to connect the workout community with those who needed water around the world.<\/p>\n

Just a few weeks after Iron Tribe opened, we hosted our first WOD for Water event. This video was made at one of our events held last month.<\/p>\n