A long walk for water
Presbyterian Giving Catalog inspires Wisconsin youth to support those who must walk for safe water
LOUISVILLE — Surrounded by lakes and rivers their whole lives, the youth of First Presbyterian Church of Neenah, Wisconsin, couldn’t help but take water for granted.
“It’s just there — whenever we need it,” said Jeff Beiriger, one of the 500-member church’s adult advisors.
But when the church’s middle and high schoolers learned that countless children across the world have to walk great distances every day to retrieve water instead of attending school, they wanted to do something about it.
Beiriger said that when the adult advisors met last fall to plan the 2025-2026 program year for the church’s SPY (high school) and JOY (middle school) youth groups, a Water Walk was one of the ideas they came up with right away, mainly because the youth “don’t think about water all that much.”
“Some of my clients are in the business of providing clean, potable water for people — well drillers, pump installers and plumbers,” said Beiriger, who owns a small business. “The better they do their jobs, and do them well, the more ‘out of sight and out of mind’ their work becomes. We are so used to turning the tap and getting clean water that we forget that this isn’t the case for much of the world.”
To adequately illustrate the nature of the global water crisis, the advisors decided to make the church’s Water Walk a two-night program.
“The first night, we talked about the lack of water and the poor quality of the water that is available in many areas around the world,” Beiriger explained. “We learned that a water well in some of these communities could be a life-altering improvement.”
That’s where the Presbyterian Giving Catalog came in.
For nearly 15 years, churches, mid councils and individuals alike have been turning to the Presbyterian Giving Catalog — which is available in English both in print and online — as a way to provide real and positive impact around the world while learning more about the ways the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) engages in mission partnerships around the world. Spanish and Korean editions of the popular resource will be available for download later this year.
The 2026-2027 Giving Catalog offers a total of 45 items under four causes — Provide Clean Water, End Hunger, Sustain Communities and Support Education — that were designed to align with Presbyterians’ ministry passions and the reality of church budgets. Catalog items are priced as low as $10 for Farming Tools and go up to $15,000 for a Deep Rock Well.
First Presbyterian decided to focus its fundraising efforts around several of the Giving Catalog’s seven water-related items, including the Garden Well that Beiriger had previously spoken about with the church’s youth.
“When Jeff first presented the idea, I was thinking of the people that had to walk for water on a regular basis and how hard it was for them,” said eighth-grade youth group member Allie Schroeder. “I wanted to learn more about how we can help, how it feels to be in their shoes.”
To design the church’s Water Walk, the advisors looked toward a successful walking challenge and fundraising campaign that was held during the 2025 Presbyterian Youth Triennium, the PC(USA)’s national gathering for high school-aged youth held in Louisville every three years.
Teresa Mader, Manager for the Presbyterian Giving Catalog and Direct Response for the PC(USA), helped to organize the Giving Catalog’s presence at Triennium in 2025. The activity was meant to bring awareness about the need for clean water and what some of our siblings around the world experience in trying to gain access, like walking miles each way to a well.
“It was incredibly inspiring to see hundreds of young people accept the challenge at Triennium to walk while carrying large jugs of water. Not only did they experience what many others go through to access clean water, but they learned how they can make their own impact through the Giving Catalog, Mader said. “Through the photos and testimonies of the youth and adults involved in First Presbyterian’s Water Walk, I felt like I was there with them, too, as the church’s youth groups walked miles carrying jugs to get water, and then walked back again to understand better what others have to do just to have clean water.”
Declan Epley, an 11th grade member of the church’s high school youth group, found the whole event interesting because it allowed him to experience “a totally different lifestyle” right in his own city without having to travel across the world.
And although Epley said that his “arms got a little tired,” the hardest part for him was seeing how the walk affected the youngest participants.
“Seeing how difficult it was for the young kids who need to do this to survive was really eye-opening for me,” he said. “It made me realize what people go through every day.”
As an Associate Director for Stewardship and Funds Development for the PC(USA), the Rev. Wilson Kennedy well knows, “you don’t have to travel across the world to understand the impact of — and make a difference through — the Presbyterian Giving Catalog.”
“When congregations, mid councils and individuals come alongside PC(USA) mission and ministry through the Presbyterian Giving Catalog,” he said, “together we can transform the lives and livelihoods of countless people around the world and do our part to enact God’s justice that changes systems of oppression everywhere.”
As for Beiriger, he said that they didn’t even learn until later in the week the extent of the impact they had made.
“We had raised a lot more money than we could have imagined,” he said.
The youth immediately decided they wanted to put the money toward building a well through an organization that they trusted to identify a community in need and had the resources to complete the project — the Presbyterian Giving Catalog.
Which begs the question, will there be a second Water Walk?
“Absolutely,” said Beiriger. “The Water Walk helps us realize that the world is much bigger than our own experiences and that we can, in small ways, make huge impacts by calling attention to the need for clean water and encouraging friends and neighbors to give a little so we can build a well in a community somewhere in the world. And that well brings life — to crops, and livestock and to the people. But also, to hopes and dreams and ambitions. When you realize that some young people spend hours a day walking to and from available water sources and not spending time in school, you realize how access to clean, safe water can change the trajectory of someone’s life.”
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