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Chats with Jack – Monthly Calls with Colleges and Universities

Tess with children in Rwanda; see the woman carrying water in the background?

In the late autumn of 2011 we started meeting via Webex each month with students from colleges and universities all over the country. Our goal? To connect them to other like-minded peers and leaders who are interested in being a part of the solution to the economic water crisis that keeps millions without access to clean, reliable water sources.

In December we began recording the calls; I tell you, this is so fun! So why bother doing the recording? So we can share news from the field, and begin to catalog conversations that others (like you) can listen to and learn from, at your leisure!

Jack, the voice from the field

For our December call we had an interview with Jack Owen, our Program Manager, where we heard about a pilot project we are beginning in Kenya with a Field Partner, Pamoja Trust. Working in informal urban settlements around Mombasa, the pilot project will establish two water kiosks, provide hygiene and sanitation training, and is expected to serve between 2500-3000 people. Listen to our chat with Jack by clicking this link, and hear more details about this project, and stories of changed lives.

What’s next in our line up of recorded topics? Keep your eyes open for topics such as ‘Time is ~~Money~~ Water!’ (to be recorded during our Jan. 25th call), ’Technology Spotlight’, and others. Have ideas for discussion topics? Write to us! We’d like to hear from you.

“Catch you on the radio”, as they say!

Jan.18.2012 Featured Fundraisers, From the Field, Other News No Comments

The Ripple Effect Celebrity Benefit

Kat Graham and Peter Chasse attend "The Ripple Effect" in Los Angeles.

Kat Graham and Peter Chasse at
"The Ripple Effect" in Los Angeles.

This past Saturday, December 10th, Kat Graham and Ian Somerhalder hosted “The Ripple Effect” in Los Angeles to benefit The Water Project. It was a beautiful evening, complete with a red carpet welcome, live and silent auctions, and presentations by the hosts and our founder, Peter Chasse.

Over 200 people turned out to show their support, including a number of Kat and Ian’s friends from the CW Network. Ms. Graham, who previously sponsored a water well through donations to her fundraising page on myWaterProject, worked with Jane Owen PR to organize every detail of the evening. She arranged sponsors, solicited gifts for the auction, and made sure everyone had an amazing time.

According to GiveBackHollywood.com, “Celebrities that attended to support the cause include Emmy Rossum, Nina Dobrev, Michael Trevino, Jenna Ushkowitz, Arielle Kebbel, Krysten Ritter, Camille Winbush, Christa B. Allen, Deborah S. Craig, Matt Lanter, Tiffany Hines, Judi Shekoni, Perez Hilton, Tamra Barney, Eddie Judge, Bianca Lawson, James Kyson Lee, and Marisa Quinn. Matthew Koma, best known for his hit “Novocaine Lips” on the Abduction soundtrack, entertained the celebrity audience.”

Throughout the evening, guests tweeted support of The Water Project and helped introduce our work to thousands of new people. We’re still tallying all the donations that have been made as a result, but we can say that many new wells and water projects will be built in 2012 thanks to Kat Graham’s Ripple Effect event. We couldn’t be more thankful!

See Photos and Video Inside

Dec.14.2011 Featured Fundraisers No Comments

Muffin Mondays – Turning Treats into Taps

Libby and her Mom Meg have something in common. They love to bake. In fact, they even have their own web site where folks in the Hamilton, Ohio area can order freshly baked muffins and cupcakes to be delivered to your door. Check them out here:http://flourpowertreats.weebly.com/index.html

But what makes Libby so cool is that she has used her love for baking as a way to raise money to bring clean water to a community in Africa. Muffin Mondays she calls them.

Every Monday since early October Libby has delivered freshly baked muffins to the Teacher’s Room at her school in Harrison. Flavors vary each week and have included Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Granola, Blueberry, and Cinnamon Apple Crumble. Wrapped in clear plastic wrap so the tantalizing goodness can be seen, each muffin is labeled with this equally clear message … these muffins don’t only taste good, they DO good.

They taste good, and do good!

Each muffin is only $1, but that $1 is a gateway to clean water. Libby’s loyal teachers and fans have been doing their part by ordering their muffins each week, and Libby and her family are gaining momentum toward their goal to fund a well.

What about the rest of Libby’s family? Well, Dad holds the invaluable (and lucky) role of being an official taste tester; and sister Maggie is helping out in the kitchen measuring out yummy ingredients. The inspiration of all this family fun? Libby’s Grandmother, who has seen first-hand the need for clean water during mission trips to Africa. Her stories shared with Mother Meg and Granddaughter Libby stirred up the passion for clean water that led the Graham family to bake treats that will turn into taps (or more likely pumps) of clean water.

So my only question? If Monday’s are for muffins, what about Tuesday and the rest of the week?!

To track Libby’s progress, see the family fundraising page here: http://thewaterproject.org/community/profile/meg-graham

Oct.31.2011 Featured Fundraisers No Comments

Smiles are only the beginning

The most amazing this about this photograph is that it doesn’t even begin to tell the story of what will happen in this place.

Yet, so often, we get caught up in images like these. Don’t get me wrong, there is every reason to. The first drops of clean, safe water for a school bring dramatic and immediate changes. In an instant, children – often young girls – are freed from the daily burden of carrying water from a far away stream or infested pond. Water is used for washing and cleaning, restoring dignity and pride. Crops are irrigated and parched plants begin to show new signs of life as the fear of hunger subsides. Stomach aches fade and soccer games take on a new found energy. Childhood resumes.

But it’s the unseen that is truly remarkable. When you step back for a moment, another image emerges.

When I gaze into these faces, I see the future. I see young men and women engaged in learning. I see healthy, rested minds hard at work. I see this young girl, Purity, with time to dream about what she’ll be when she grows up. I see a market stand opening, packed with vegetables and crafts – products of fertile fields and productive hands. I see a leader, Steve, inspired by what someone did for him, yearning to help his own neighbor escape poverty.

I’ll admit though, I still get caught up in the moment. Water flowing, children splashing, and everyone cheering the opening of a new well will do that. In our narrowly focused world, we’re so used to goals and accomplishments. We love to celebrate what is “finished.” But if we stop there, we’ll miss the fullness of what is happening.

So let’s not forget that today is day one. The hard work of the next steps begin now. Hope is only beginning to bear fruit.

Then, when we celebrate with a community or a school like this one, we can celebrate things that we’ll likely never see – future events that we’ll certainly not have a hand in. We can celebrate Purity’s graduation from high school. Or Steve’s successful new enterprise, fresh out of university. We can cheer as a new school is constructed or as the local church fulfills its mission and raises nearby villages from poverty. We can celebrate things we cannot even imagine.

That’s what it means to join in their story. That’s what it means to hope for Steve and with Purity, and all their friends at the Care Compassion Orphanage.

When water comes… everything changes. These smiles are only the beginning.

What do you see?

Sep.28.2011 From the Field 2 Comments

Make Something, Learn Something, Love People

“Every day we make something, we learn something, and we try to love people.”

That’s the goal, every day, for the Lowe family from Abilene, Texas.

We met Matt, Amy and their two children, Liam and Mary when they called recently about starting a fundraising page so that Liam, pictured here with Dad, could love people by helping build wells in Africa.

As we read through Liam’s page, we met a remarkable young man who has spent many months over the last year battling leukemia in a Texas hospital. Things had been going well. Liam had even recently been home for a month in Abilene, in remission.

But Liam soon spiked a fever that just wouldn’t go away. While checking up on the fever and a few other symptoms in the emergency room, they discovered his cancer was back.

Aug.15.2011 Featured Fundraisers No Comments

Southwest Chicago Christian School Raises $26,000

Faith in Action Overflows to Four Communities

Students at Southwest Chicago Christian School in Tinley Park, Illinois have been learning about the lack of clean water available to people throughout the world. As Principal Terry Huizenga wrote, “After hearing that one out of every six people in the world do not have access to clean water and that often women and young children walk more than five miles a day in order to obtain water, students decided to take action.”

In the spirit of the school’s vision statement, “A Christ-Centered Learning Community Intent on Restoring God’s World,” the students raised $26,000. Students ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade participated in a walkathon in the fall of the 2010-2011 school year, with the purpose of raising awareness and funds for people in developing nations who lack safe drinking water. The result? Four communities will have clean water … three in Kenya, and one in Rwanda. Now that’s faith in action.

But the students didn’t stop at fundraising; they also took time to care about the communities on a greater level. “As Southwest Christian partnered with the Water Project for this important work, they have also been praying that the communities who receive the wells will come to know the love of Christ through their gift of clean water. “, says Principal Huizenga.

Check out the well projects in Kenya and Rwanda that are possible because of students taking action and making a difference:

See their Projects Here

You can host a walkathon in your community too. Contact us for a guide of helpful tips to planning this type of event.

Jun.22.2011 Featured Fundraisers 1 Comment

Changamwe urban sanitation project taking shape!

I’ve been spending quite a lot of time with a men’s support group in Changamwe recently, an informal urban

settlement on the main Nairobi road out of Mombasa.

David and Herbert, members of Changamwe Men's Support Group at the proposed site

They have developed a proposal for a sanitation block in their community, involving three or four flush toilets and

a shower. The idea is that people will pay per use of the facility, and through this the group can raise funds for

another similar project in the future as well as provide support for AIDs affected families in the community.

The site is small, around 5m by 3m, but ideally located to the main road, and right next to the municipal water line

and the sewerage network. The group are also keen to include a community space in the project, to allow them to facilitate HIV awareness events and hold Voluntary Community Testing (VCT) evenings.

As well as support from TWP, the group are also working closely with Women Fighting AIDs in Kenya (WOFAK), a well established respected NGO with substantial experience of working in slum settlements in Kenya.

At this point we’re in the discussion stage, and are committed to facilitating the design process and workshop sessions. When we have some coherent plans and a decent proposal, we’re also very keen on the idea of funding the construction process, and as such entering into the world of urban water and sanitation. At the same time, TWP is talking to WOFAK about on – going support, and about ensuring that the group have the capacity to handle their income and maintain the facility in the long run.

Good, exciting, progress. Watch this space!

Jun.08.2011 From the Field No Comments

We’re Moving (and growing)!

4 Bicentennial Square - Concord, NH

Beginning on June 6th, 2011 – The Water Project, Inc is relocating our headquarters from Charlotte, NC to Concord, NH. It’s a big move and we couldn’t be happier!

We’re incredibly excited about this new opportunity to expand our operations, add some office space and welcome new folks to our team!

Our new headquarters in downtown Concord, NH will become a great place for our growing team to collaborate and get creative about solving this water crisis. (It happens to be above a coffee shop, which will certainly help too!)

Why We’re Moving

From the beginning, our belief has been that partnerships and cooperation are the only way to solve the water crisis facing nearly one billion people around the world.

Jun.02.2011 Other News 3 Comments

The 10 Hour Power Shower

Strangest fundraiser ever?

We may never know… but Kevin Cline and friends sure got our attention with this one. You simply have to watch!

You may be wondering…

Was this a waste of water? Maybe. But, here’s a stunner. A 10 hour shower only uses about 1,500 gallons of water. That’s less than is needed to produce one hamburger!*

So, we think it was worth it. Kevin raised over $1,000 in just 10 hours. You can see how the 1,500 gallons was put to good use here >>

*Source: http://ga2.er.usgs.gov/edu/edu-activity-watercontent.cfm

May.31.2011 Featured Fundraisers No Comments

Carbon for Water? Now how does that work?

Vestergaard Frandsen are a Swiss company involved in the research, development, manufacture and distribution of humanitarian products. They are the guys behind the Permanet mosquito net. On their website they talk of ‘profit for a purpose’. Right now, in Western Province, Kenya they are rolling out a water filtration program intended to cover 90% of homes in just 25 days. That is 900,000 households overall, or 35,000 new filters moving out every single day! The company are investing 30m USD over ten years. Why? Because the carbon saved through filtering water rather than boiling it will be transferred into carbon credits and sold on the European market for a profit. To say this is highly ambitious is an understatement, so I hopped on a flight from Mombasa and took a closer look. Continue Reading..