The Mustard Seed Peace Project is a local community-oriented nonprofit organization making international waves.

Started by Godfrey resident Terri Cranmer in 2004, the project works to bring the Riverbend’s generosity and compassion to impoverished towns across the world.

Currently, the group is working with engineering students from Southern Illinois University’s Carbondale and Edwardsville campuses to bring functioning water systems to two poor villages in Guatemala.

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“In the village of Virginia [in Guatemala], during the late months of the dry season, all but one of the six wells are dried out,” Cranmer said. “Women have to travel about a mile to the spring. They make about eight to 10 trips a day. Sometimes they even pull girls out of school to do the work.”

In the Guatemalan village of Las Mojarras, another organization built a somewhat-functioning water delivery system in 1996. When it was originally built, Las Mojarras had a population of 25 families. Cranmer said the organization which built the system did not plan for the community’s future growth. Las Mojarras is currently the home of more than 100 families, and many have no reliable access to water.

“Even in the houses with faucets, families can only get it to flow at certain times of the day, ” Cranmer said. “Some of them were awake at 2 and 3 in the morning because that was the only time the water would flow. They would have to get up and fill their buckets.”

Cranmer said the engineering students and Engineers Without Borders suspect the former water system is plagued with air bubbles. She added if the village faucets stopped working entirely, the walk to the water spring would be nearly unbearable for the village.

To raise money for the projects, the Mustard Seed Peace Project hosts benefits. This year is the fourth year for the project’s family-friendly Harvest Dinner held at The Nature Institute in Godfrey. This year’s dinner will begin at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at The Nature Institute in Godfrey.

At 5:30 p.m., the program begins with a presentation about Mayan culture by Ruben Dario Gomez Gonzalez. Gonzalez is an archaeological tour guide in Guatemala who also acts as Cranmer’s driver and translator while she is in Guatemala. A collection of dresses weaved in Mayan styles Gonzalez brought to a previous presentation are currently on display at St. Louis University.

Dinner will be served around 6 p.m. and will feature food by local chef Aaron Whalen who utilizes several local ingredients for his meals.

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“We have sort of a harvest-themed dinner this year,” Mustard Seed Peace Project chief fundraiser Ed Culver said. “It’s a family event. We all bring our families. We want the community to bring theirs as well. We are a community group.”

Culver has worked with the rest of the members of the organization to create the event while Cranmer was working in Guatemala.