SIOUX FALLS – Providing clean water for the world is the objective of a silent auction and concert to be held Monday, November 23, in the Chapel of Reconciliation on the campus of Augustana College.

Augustana, Sioux Falls Seminary, and The University of Sioux Falls are working together in this effort to help people in South Dakota and around the world have access to clean drinking water.

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Print out an informational poster for display.

The event begins at 6:30 p.m. with a silent auction. Items include a pottery piece created by Gerry Punt, Artist in Residence at Augustana; works of art from students and staff of the three sponsoring institutions; dinner with professors, and books from the Center for Western Studies.

“The concert is shaping up nicely,” says Kayla Rockwell, Augustana junior from Sioux Falls. “We have a wide variety of student and faculty performers; everything from a woodwind quintet to the band Scarlet Letter, which will be the featured act.”

The concert begins at 7:30. The silent auction will continue through the end of the concert.

A specific need in South Dakota is the Pine Ridge Reservation, which has a serious problem with contaminated water. A portion of donations received will also go to Charity:Water, a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

Currently, one billion people on the planet do not have access to clean water. In addition, 80 percent of all sickness is caused by unsafe drinking water resulting in the deaths of 2.2 million people annually. Each day 4,500 children die from water-related diseases.

The live auction and concert is dedicated to the memory of Jenna VanBuren, an Augustana student who died in a car accident shortly before the start of the 2009-10 school year.

Bruce Conley
Director, News Information
Phone: 605.274.5526
Fax: 605.274.4903
bruce.conley@augie.edu