Sharing the gift of clean water
29 julio 2007Sip a glass of New York tap water Thursday and donate a buck to children around the world who don’t have that privilege. Ever.
By Rhoda Amon
Newsday.com
2007-03-20 9:00 am
Designated as World Water Day by the United Nations 15 years ago, Thursday is the day when local restaurants are asked to participate in UNICEF’s “Tap Project” for bringing safe, clean drinking water to children around the world. At least three Long Island restaurants and nearly 300 New York City restaurants will be asking diners to donate $1 to help provide accessible clean water in countries and poor areas where these donations could save millions of children who die each year from preventable causes, UNICEF officials said.
“When I read about World Water Day, I called and asked, can we please participate,” said Carol Covell, general manager of the Wei Fun restaurant in East Hampton. Two other East Hampton restaurants, under the same ownership, the 1770 House Restaurant and Inn, which serves American cuisine, and Cittanuova, which specializes in Italian cuisine, are also participating.
“We’re hoping other Long Island restaurants will follow,” Covell said. The restaurants serve water at all meals, she said.
“The average American uses 80 to 100 gallons of water a day,” said Caryl Stern, acting president of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. “But more than a billion people don’t have access to clean water at all. One in five is a child.” Stern, of Bayside, said a $1 donation can provide “40 liters of safe water, enough to give one child safe drinking water for 40 days. It’s an easy way to impact on the lives of children.”
“Clean and plentiful drinking water is an everyday privilege millions take for granted,” said Marcus Samuelsson, Ethiopian-born chef/restaurateur who serves as a U.S. Fund for UNICEF celebrity ambassador. “Yet the lack of it is one of the reasons millions of children die each year.”
Lack of clean water is the second-largest killer of children under 5, according to UN figures. UNICEF estimates that 80 percent of all illness and infant mortality is due to waterborne disease.
Samuelsson, 34, chef/proprietor of Aquavit and other Manhattan restaurants, is particularly active in the prevention of tuberculosis, the disease that killed his parents in Ethiopia when he was 3.
Stern said that UNICEF, which introduced the Tap Project in New York restaurants this year, hopes to spread the idea to the rest of the nation. The UN agency, which operates in more than 90 countries, has the goal of reducing by half the number of people without sustainable safe drinking water by 2015. UNICEF was founded in 1946 to help protect and improve the lives of chilren around the world.
Supporters across the country can also contribute online tomorrow by visiting tapproject.org
Fuente: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liwate0321,0,4401439.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines
