. . . Nor Any Drop to Drink

For most, getting a drink of water is simple: go to the sink, turn on the tap, and . . . instant hydration. But for 2 billion people (almost a quarter of the world’s population), it’s a far different scenario. For them, clean water can be a hours-long trek to a well, followed by an even more challenging trip back with a huge container of water to meet their needs and those of their family for that day. And most often, that daunting round-trip, a daily occurrence, is made by women or children. “Water insecurity,” a term that grossly undersells the reality, disproportionately affects those who are often already economically, geographically, and technologically disadvantaged. Enter Wine to Water (WTW). Combining hard work with both proven and new technology, the North Carolina-based nonprofit organization is helping alleviate water insecurity in regions worldwide that are most severely impacted — and making a huge difference with every encounter.

If it were part of a Hollywood script, Hendley’s return would have seen WTW enjoying immediate success, quickly bringing fresh, clean drinking water to millions around the globe. Such was not the case, however. WTW’s early days were challenging, with the organization, which depended solely on grants and donations, at times flirting with financial insolvency. However, according to Tim Cox, Jr., WTW’s vice president of product and innovations, all that changed in 2009 when Hendley received a call from CNN.

“The network reached out to Doc to tell him that he had been nominated for the CNN 2009 Heroes award, an annual program that highlights everyday people doing something to better the world,” said Cox. “He had been chosen from more than 9,000 nominees and recognized for the work WTW had done — at the time, bringing water to Sudan, Uganda and Cambodia. That certainly helped raise the organization’s visibility which, in turn, led to better funding for even more projects.” 

The uptick in exposure/funding could not have been any timelier. Less than a year later, Haiti was rocked by a devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake which resulted in more than 160,000 deaths and a massive water crisis. True to form, Hendley, who was working in Uganda at the time, immediately flew to Haiti and began coordinating efforts with a team in the Dominican Republic to get water filters to those so badly in need of it.

The sessions mentioned above, collectively known as the Topcon Technical Xperience, are a gathering of personnel from Topcon’s distribution network at the company’s Technical Training Center in Livermore, Calif., to better learn the company’s newest solutions. A feature of that gathering is a team-building activity that ties into a component of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts.

“The Topcon motto ‘For Work That Matters’ is something that reflects the work of our customers in infrastructure and technology, impacting the global community at large, and it is something that we carry throughout the organization in a multitude of ways. While there was initial uncertainty about how well the team-building effort would go, aligning it with a charitable cause made all the difference, according to Ron Oberlander, Topcon vice president of Global Professional Services.

“That first activity was a playhouse build for Habitat for Humanity which resulted in 15 playhouses for needy families and organizations,” he said. “Once we saw the faces of everyone getting engaged, we knew we had to keep doing these charitable events. But, because Topcon is an international company with products at work throughout the world, this year we wanted to make sure that the event would impact the global community. The WTW Filter Build was the perfect fit.”

While many of the components used by WTW in the field are larger in scale and of varied construction (bladders and silver-infused clay pots, for example), those that are part of the current WTW Filter Build are of a prefabricated, plastic-injection molded nature, packaged as a kit and ready for assembly. Though Cox describes the kits as somewhat akin to adult Legos, the impact they make is anything but childlike.

“That afternoon, the Topcon team assembled about 200 filters,” he said. “And every filter they put together is capable of providing enough clean water for a family of 10 for up to 10 years — around 100,000 gallons of water. Looked at another way, for the next decade, those 200 filters will provide 20 million gallons of clean water to people who desperately need it. That’s a pretty powerful impact to make in a single afternoon, while sitting with your colleagues. And you could see from those taking part in the build that, although they were having fun — the significance of what they were doing was not lost on them.”

“I think every decent corporation wants their employees to know that they are focused on more than just a product or an industry,” said Cox. “A WTW Filter Build, like the one the Topcon team hosted, offers a chance to give employees a sense of team and togetherness as well as an excellent opportunity to genuinely contribute to our efforts. People can do without many things, but they can't do without water. So, for an affordable amount, a company like Topcon can immediately impact thousands and thousands of people in a very real way. We’re extremely grateful for their cooperation.”