Pure Water for the World’s “Ripple Awards” Honor Committed Change-Makers

Rutland, VT – September 29, 2016. Pure Water for the World, Inc. (PWW) recently honored two distinguished groups with the “PWW Ripple Award,” for their overwhelming dedication to bring sustainable safe water solutions to children and families living in the most underserved communities in Haiti.

“It’s a crazy concept that, in America, we can flip a switch and have clean water. Here, they spend hours just to get unclean water.” This was a statement shared last October by South Burlington High School student, Hannah Fisher, on the final day of her volunteer trip to Haiti with PWW.

Screen Shot 2016-01-12 at 3.27.18 PMHannah and fellow high school students, Ellie Hall (also a student at South Burlington High) and Emma Owens (a, now, graduate of Champlain Valley Union High) spent five days traveling around Haiti, learning about the people, the culture, and the water situation. They experienced a glimpse of the struggles and intense poverty so many families in Haiti face every day.

On their final day, the students installed biosand water filters in families’ homes in Cité Soleil, the most impoverished slum in the Western Hemisphere. This was a pivotal day for them.

That evening they came together and crafted an ambitious plan to change the future for 1,070 families in Haiti, who are suffering from debilitating and deadly illnesses caused by drinking contaminated water, by providing them with clean water filters. The movement was dubbed the “1070 Project”.

Over the past year, the students have spoken with businesses, news stations, government leaders, schools and the Burlington Rotary Club about the 1070 Project. They remained true to their commitment, raising well over $80,000 and exceeding their initial goal.

1070-girlsPWW honored Hannah, Ellie, and Emma with a “Ripple Award,” for taking their idea and using it to create a ripple that spread wide enough to help more than 5,000 people.

PWW’s “Ripple Award” was also presented to the Hoehl Family Foundation, with John Hoehl receiving the award on behalf of the Foundation. Motivated by his parents’ years of involvement with the people of Haiti, John and the Hoehl Family Foundation have been strong supporters of PWW’s efforts to bring safe water solutions to the country’s most underserved and impoverished families.

The Hoehl Family Foundation not only supported the students’ 1070 Project, but the Foundation’s support was instrumental to the success of PWW’s 1,000 Homes Project for Cité Soleil in 2014; a project that brought more than 5,000 residents of this urban slum life-changing safe water solutions. This project was so effective that PWW is already working toward the next 1,000 homes.

“We are profoundly grateful for the dedicated work of these extraordinary students, Emma, Ellie and Hannah, and for the incredibly generous support of John Hoehl and the Hoehl Family Foundation,” states Carolyn Crowley Meub, Executive Director. “Their collective commitment to improving the lives of underserved children and families in Haiti is truly inspiring.”

The “Ripple Award” was initiated in 2014 in honor of the ripple effect; small actions can create a tremendous impact. Previous Ripple Award honorees include Ken and Ruth Grabeau, of Nashua, New Hampshire, and Peter and Marion Abell, of Brattleboro, Vermont, for their unwavering commitment to safe water for children and families and their support of Pure Water for the World since its inception.
Funds provided by 2016 Ripple Award honorees are already creating tremendous change for families living in Cité Soleil and Trianon, Haiti. Learn more by visiting www.purewaterfortheworld.org.

About Pure Water for The World:
Pure Water for the World is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to improve the health and livelihood of children and families, living in underserved communities in Central America and the Caribbean, by providing effective tools and education to establish sustainable safe water, hygiene and sanitation 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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