Meet James...He's Walking for Water

It's interesting, the people one may encounter when walking or biking and not rushing by in a 2000lb shell, otherwise known as a car. Such was the case when I was pedaling home from a coffee shop this morning. I noticed this guy walking with a trailer attached to his waist. That's interesting, I thought. Then I see a newscaster getting her gear set up to interview him. So I stopped. It turns out James is walking across the country, from Princeton, NJ to San Jose, CA to raise money and awareness to the inaccessibility to drinking water in Africa. He was passing through Buffalo today and on to Canada tomorrow. Here's some info from his website:

"Hi, my name is James Leitner. When I was seventeen, I was completing a project for one of my high school classes and searched for "water issues" on Google. What I wanted to do with my life changed with that simple search. I learned that 1 billion people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water. At that moment, I wanted to dedicate my life to helping people gain access to this vital aspect of life. Since then, I have helped various nonprofits raise funds in order to build wells in the Central African Republic and Tanzania. I have provided technical assistance to villages in Tanzania and assisted them in maintaining their wells." 

With so much negativity in the news these days it is really refreshing to see the good work so many do in our world, such as what James is doing. To donate or read more about his mission (there's tons of information), visit his website or Facebook page.

Urban Simplicity.