LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. (KOIN) — The director of a local skincare practice is working to bring clean water to people living halfway around the world.
Lovely Laban said her patients at Skin by Lovely recently gave her a huge boost toward helping thousands of people in Malawi.
Like many developing countries around the world, Malawi suffers from a lack of the most basic and critical resource: clean water.
The World Health Organization and UNICEF estimate at least 663 million people don’t have access to safe drinking water and 3.5 million die from water-related diseases every year.
In an effort to improve these staggering statistics, Laban teamed up with charity: water — a non-profit organization that brings clean water to people in need.
Private donors cover the operating costs for charity:water which means 100% of donations go toward funding water projects in developing countries. So far, charity:water has funded more than 38,000 projects.
Working with charity:water goes hand-in-hand with the mission of Laban’s practice.
“One of our core values is making a difference and we like to do that in our patients’ lives on a daily basis,” Laban said. “But also in the world, we want to make a difference, the biggest impact we can make.”
Laban’s 3 Skin by Lovely practices (one in Portland, one in Lake Oswego and one in Santa Monica, California) recently devoted all of their proceeds from one day to charity:water.
Their goal was $100,000. They raised $130,000.
The money will fund 16 wells in Malawi and impact about 3,200 people.
As well as securing safe drinking water for people in the East African country, Laban said the wells will empower women who are often responsible for trekking long distances every day to get water that’s often contaminated.
“The fact that we could actually contribute to this organization where we’re actually empowering women; giving them free time, giving them time to spend with their families.”
Laban said she hopes to go to Malawi with her husband in the near future to see the results of the fundraising for herself.
