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Water
for People: A Business community with a thirst for helping people
In her role as water resources planner, Nancy Howard works on future water supply and water conservation to help extend current water supply in Newport News. Her colleague, Karen Levy, is an information technology project manager. Together they lead a team of ten staff members at Newport News Waterworks who are volunteering their time to improve the lives of people thousands of miles away. They proudly support an international humanitarian organization known as Water for People, which helps to bring safe clean drinking water and sanitary wastewater systems to people in underdeveloped countries. Nancy Howard first learned of Water for People at a national American Waterworks Association conference. Members of the professional drinking water community established the nonprofit foundation in 1991. As Howard imparts, “they, of all people, understand how critical it is to have clean water and what dire results you have if you don’t have it.” Levy states, “Water for People clearly makes a difference in the quality of life in a community because without safe clean drinking water all else pales. It is a core requirement.” Water for People is currently helping people in Guatemala, Bolivia, Honduras, India, Vietnam, and Malawi. Working with other countries and non-governmental agencies, the organization helps provide resources, for the construction projects, in the way of funding, materials, and expertise. The villagers handle the labor. “They take ownership of it and it becomes their project,” explains Howard. “They actually construct it.” The water community then works with them to learn how to maintain it so that it’s sustainable. Health education is also a key component of the program. A group of villagers is trained to teach the entire village about sanitation and hygiene. The communities are empowered to continue to help themselves and often go forward on their own to build schools and roads. Projects include water treatment facilities, hand-washing stations in the schools, and piping to bring water from the top of a mountain into a village. Howard declares, “it doesn’t take a lot of money to make a huge difference.” A small project such as supplying a water pump costs as little as $1300 and can save the lives of an entire town. The Newport News Waterworks team successfully held their first fundraiser on behalf of Water for People in February of 2005. When planning for the 2006 fundraising campaign, it was Levy’s suggestion to take the campaign to all of Oyster Point. They decided to approach businesses throughout the business park. Water for People Week in Oyster Point Park is being planned for March 20-24, 2006. A midweek rally to bring all employees together to generate enthusiasm and excitement is planned for March 22 to coincide with World Wide Water Day. Businesses in Oyster Point who choose to participate will conduct their own employee-giving campaigns. Individuals and businesses are encouraged to visit the Water for People web site at www.waterforpeople.org to learn more about the program and to become involved. Levy hopes to conclude the week with an event “where we would have a chance as a business park community to announce our total dollars raised.” Howard, Levy, and their Waterworks teammates get a great deal of satisfaction out of raising funds for a charity that focuses on the lifesaving benefits of clean drinking water and sanitary facilities. Howard says she gets excited about the fact that she is personally doing something that really makes a difference to other people at a very basic level. Levy adds, “it is nice to continue that charitable giving in our own industry.” For additional information on the upcoming campaign, call Karen Levy at 926-1062 or Nancy Howard at 926-1094. |
Newport
News Waterworks volunteers for Water for People include (standing,
left to right) Claudia Melgaarde, Jeanette Gibas, Tom Murphy,
Nancy Howard, Karen Levy, and (seated, left to right) Larry
Cypress, JoAnn Knight, and Betty Wrightson