Pure Water for the World, Inc Receives Grant From UMCOR Fof Safe Water Programs In Rural Haiti

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Rutland, VT – February 26, 2016 – Pure Water for the World, Inc. is honored to announce it has received a $91,740 grant from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). These funds will support a community-based clean water and hygiene education project in the very rural region of Bouda Chita, Haiti.

Pure Water for the World (PWW) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to improve the health and livelihood of children and families in the developing world by partnering with communities to establish safe water solutions.

The UMCOR grant will fund a project that includes the implementation of safe water solutions in 360 homes, reaching 2,160 individuals, including 900 women and 540 children. Every family will receive clean water filters and participate in compulsory hygiene education courses. Additional training will be provided to community-selected, volunteer Community Agents, who will serve as extended members of the PWW team to support individual families with the consistent and proper use of the safe water tools and hygiene practices. The local PWW team will provide comprehensive follow-up and monitoring services to ensure project efficacy and sustainability.

“This grant will help us to continue our great momentum in putting an end to the suffering and death, caused by contaminated water, that families in this highly underserved region of Haiti have experienced,” said Carolyn Crowley Meub, Executive Director of Pure Water for the World. “These families will receive the essential tools and knowledge to support a future of improved health, hope and opportunity.”

“UMCOR first partnered with Pure Water for the World in Haiti in 2009. From my first visit to their factory in Port-au-Prince, to visits to schools where filters were installed in Cité Soleil, I have been impressed by their emphasis on education combined with diligent follow-up when clean water filters are installed,” said Jim Gulley, UMCOR and Global Ministries Coordinator for Haiti. “It is with pride and pleasure to be partnering again with Pure Water for the World in Haiti.”

In Haiti, waterborne illness is the leading cause of disease, both acute and chronic. Children bear the burden of diarrheal disease and chronic episodes contribute to malnutrition, school absenteeism and poor school performance.

Bouda Chita epitomizes a region without access to basic needs. The approximately 12,000 residents live in extreme poverty with small-scale subsistence agriculture as the primary source of income. Water sources are heavily contaminated with pathogens, including the deadly cholera bacterium, introduced into the water streams after the 2010 earthquake.

Pure Water for the World is committed to working in the region of Bouda Chita until all families and schools are benefitting from safe water tools and hygiene practices. To date, over 1,000 families have been reached, but there is still a long list of families waiting. This grant will help 360 of those families and support the goal of fully serving the region.

Learn more about the Bouda Chita project by visiting http://purewaterfortheworld.org/solutions/projects-in-haiti/bouda-chita-haiti/.

About Pure Water for The World:

Pure Water for the World (PWW) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to improve the health and livelihood of children and families in the developing world by partnering with communities to establish safe water solutions.

Pure Water for the World has partnered with over 200 communities, reaching more than 750,000 people in Haiti and Central America with life-changing, sustainable safe water, hygiene and sanitation solutions.

For more information, visit www.purewaterfortheworld.org.

Contact: Jamin Gelder, Program Manager
Pure Water for the World
P.O. Box 55
Rutland, VT 05702
Phone: 802-747-0778
Fax: 802-773-8575

Email: jamin.gelder@purewaterfortheworld.org

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