FARGO — Kayla Houchin of Fargo not only has a passion for teaching physical education to elementary students at Oak Grove Lutheran School, but also for her baking company and a charity that is providing clean drinking water worldwide.
Houchin is putting her baking skills to use by raising money for charity:water, an organization that has raised about $330 million so far to bring clean drinking water to more than 10 million people in the world. More needs to be done, however, with more than 650 million people — or about twice the population of the United States — still lacking one of life's necessities.
The Fargo woman's fundraising goal is much more in reach — $30 for each of the 441 students and staff at Oak Grove or $13,220.
As of late this week, she was at $12,446 and hopes to reach her goal by next month.
She's raised money for the charity before, but this year her effort took off after she celebrated her 29th birthday in January by offering a box of 10 French macarons or sugar cookies for a $29 donation to the charity. For a $129 donation, she provides a carefully crafted naked birthday cake (which gets its name from the fact that there's no frosting on the sides).
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She's had a lot of takers for the charity and baking goodies. Houchin has more than 20 years of experience in the baking world as she first learned how at age 5 with a babysitter who was like a grandmother to her. She took that experience and started Indulgence Baking Co., which she operates out of a rented kitchen at a Chef's Table catering facility in south Fargo.
Her passion for charity:water is unmistakable, too, as evidenced by how she speaks about the organization and what it does as well as its founder and CEO Scott Harrison.
She returned last month from a trip to New York City where she stopped in to visit the charity's headquarters. The visit prompted more excitement, as did a video chat with Harrison, who had piqued her interest in the charity when he spoke at North Dakota State University when she was going to school there in 2012-2013. She was hooked immediately by its mission of of "bringing clean water to everyone on the planet within our lifetime."
"I really believe it can be done," Houchin said. "Just like we put a man on the moon."
"It's solvable and I'm going to continue to help the rest of my life to help reach that goal," she said. "Imagine being without one of life's most basic needs. We just take it for granted."
Nearly 4,000 children die every day from diseases caused by dirty water and sanitation, according to the United Nations . In addition, people in Africa and southeast Asia walk up to four hours just to get clean water, which takes an economic toll in such countries as Cambodia, Ethiopia and Uganda. Because children are often sent to fetch water, they are kept out of school, she said.
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Houchin knows that funds she has raised in the past have gone to build wells in Ethiopia, complete with monitoring devices to make sure they continue working properly. Besides well projects, she also knows the charity helps with biosand filters that are needed in some areas of Cambodia at a cost of about $65 for each home.
The baker and teacher hasn't been reaching her fundraising goal this year on her own. A kindergartner come up to her one day and gave her 58 cents, mostly in pennies. A fifth-grader makes bracelets and necklaces from beads and sells them with half of the money going to charity:water. Another couple of students who earned $100 from their parents for getting straight A's in school this winter donated it to her drive.
To donate to her "birthday fund" visit my.charitywater.org/kayla-rae-houchin/indulgence-baking-co .
The charity contributes 100 percent of donations to water projects for the estimated 1 in 10 people in the world who don't have access to clean water. The charity has 131 families who pay for all of the overhead expenses, thus leaving the money to go directly to providing clean water.
