"We need to give [the water] to them - not just to be nice, but because we should be sharing it."

More than 500 students in the Fraser Valley have come to the same conclusion as Grade 4 South Poplar Traditional student Denzie Taves. They have been learning about the water crisis in Ethiopia through a unique program sponsored by Envision Financial called Envision a Better World; Learn, Create, Run.

The program encourages teachers to go through curriculum put together by teachers on the Run for Water board of directors.

The lessons focus on social responsibility and the fact that anyone can help the young girls who walk for several kilometers to fetch clean water for their village.

Randall Mark of the Run for Water Society speaks to students about the villages he visited in his travels to Ethiopia with Hope International.

The students are encouraged to create projects showing what they have learned. Students can paint, draw, create 3D art or write their feelings in their projects.

One classroom wrote and recorded a song entitled, "One Big Well" and will perform it before the 5K on Run for Water race day (May 30). The projects are on display in the three branches of Envision Financial until May 25th.

There will be three prizes of $100 gift cards given to the students who have captured the lessons in their projects.

"We are more than just a quality run," founder Ken Baerg explains. "Our board wants to promote physical activity to our community, put on a fantastic community event, but even more importantly, raise awareness of the fact one child dies every 15 seconds in the world due to lack of clean water.

These lessons help the students get involved in the cause and understand what they are running for on May 30. Envision has been an amazing sponsor to this program."

"My students were shocked at the amount of clean water Canada has compared to the rest of the world," Science teacher Carmen Loewen at Abbotsford Middle School explains.

"They had a hard time getting over the fact that the majority of Ethiopian's survive per week on [the amount of water] in one flush of a toilet." Several of her students are participating in the 5K for Run for Water, and she is running the half marathon.

"I almost cried a few times in Randall's presentation....Sad but eye opening for all of us. It was terrific," Durieu Elementary teacher Amanda Draper shares. Her students were moved at the pictures and video in Mark's presentation showing cows standing in the very water being consumed by villagers. Draper was planning to bring her class to Mission Secondary's mini Run for Water held on their campus on May 20 and is also running on May 30.

Students from Sandy Hill Elementary held a bake sale in their neighbourhoods to raise money for clean water in Ethiopia. One mom, Melissa Cameron, explains, "My twin girls and three of their friends sold lemonade, brownies and cookies - enough to supply water for two people for life." Through the lessons students learn that $35 gives one person clean water for life.

The schools taking part in the Envision a Better World; Learn, Create, Run are:

Mission Secondary

Eugene Reimer Middle School

Abbotsford Middle School

Clayburn Middle School

East Chilliwack Elementary

South Poplar Traditional Elementary

Sandy Hill Elementary

Abbotsford Christian Elementary

Mountain Elementary

Upper Sumas Elementary

Thomas Swift Elementary

Dave Kandal Elementary

Other schools sending school teams to the run are (so far):

Dormick Park Elementary

Abbotsford Traditional Secondary School

Durieu Elementary

The Run for Water takes place on May 30. There is no race day registration, so visit www.runforwater.ca to register.