28 year old Steve Clarke from Bognor Regis plans to hitchhike his way across Europe this month, whilst raising funds for two international charities: Just a Drop and the Hunger Project. For every free ride he gets, he will donate the money that he would otherwise have spent on transport to the charities.

To further fuel his fundraising, Steve will also busk on the streets he passes through, including those in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Brussels and Berlin.

Steve says, “I am going to attempt to hitch-hike across Europe for about a month. I will donate to two charities the money I would have spent on buses, trains, planes or boats. The two charities I have chosen carry out essential work on areas of the world that have affected me on my previous travels and this is what has motivated me to support them.”

Nicola Swann, fundraising and communications manager at Just a Drop, said, “We are delighted that Steve has chosen to support Just a Drop in such a unique way. Every pound he raises will bring clean water to someone in need and we encourage people to donate to help him raise as much as possible from his tremendous efforts. We certainly give him the thumbs up!”

If you would like to support Steve, you can make a donation via his Virgin Money Giving page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SteveClarke7 Just a Drop will receive 50% of the funds raised.

To enquire about fundraising for Just a Drop, or to embark on your own challenge event, please contact Nicola Swann on nicola.swann@justadrop.org or call 020 8910 7019.

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Notes to Editors

About Just a Drop

• Launched in 1998, Just a Drop is an international water-aid charity which aims to contribute positively to the reduction of child mortality caused through poor sanitation and unsafe water and to actively reduce the numbers of people without access to clean water.
• Working with local partners - at a grassroots level - we provide a local, clean water supply through appropriate engineering solutions to some of the poorest communities in the world.
• The work we support includes safe sanitation and the construction of wells, boreholes, pipelines, hand pumps, sand dams and latrines. We also strive to improve health and sanitation education by encouraging the establishment of WASH (Water and Sanitation Hygiene) programmes to run alongside our work.
• To date, our projects have reached an estimated 1.5 million people in 31 countries from Afghanistan to Zambia.

Fast Water Facts: 

• A child dies around every 20 seconds as a result of a water related illness
• Over 768 million people in the world do not have access to clean, safe water
• Around 2.5 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation
• Over 2.75 million people die from water related diseases every year
• More people in the world own mobile phones than have access to a toilet