Overview for 2011
Grants totaling $20,000 were awarded to three different organizations doing water well construction in two countries. Two awards were given to projects in Uganda and one to a project in Kosovo. This is the largest sum of grants awarded in one year in the Foundation’s history.
Hope 2 One Life
Awarded $6,000, Hope 2 One Life is developing the Family Empowerment Uganda (FEM) project that seeks to install a high-capacity water well and solar pumping system at the FEM Canaan Farm in Rakayata Village, Masindi, Uganda, to help 200 survivors of civil war who are trying to rebuild their lives. The NGWREF grant will help to pay a portion of the overall project cost of $27,000.
Committee on Foreign Missions for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Situated in northeast Uganda, the Nakaale Station project by the Committee on Foreign Missions for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church received $8,000 from the Foundation to help with the installation of wells in four villages to serve up to 5,000 people. At present the people in these villages get their drinking water from polluted water in rivers, creeks, and swamps.
Water for Life
The Tushile Safe Water Project developed by the Water for Life Institute will serve 800 villagers in Kosovo by capping 150 open wells to protect them from contamination, installing pumps in the wells, and cleaning up sources of pollution. The Foundation awarded $6,000 to the Water for Life Institute to help them complete the project.
Overview for 2010
Freshwater-needy citizens of Haiti will benefited from two NGWREF grants totaling $8,350. The grants were made by the Foundation board for relief projects in Haiti following its devastating earthquake.
ClearBlue Water Project
A $6,000 provisional contribution was made to the ClearBlue Project for the construction of potable water well systems in Haiti. ClearBlue is a project that evolved from the works of the First Methodist Church of North America. "It is with great gratitude and appreciation that I accept the grant your organization has elected to present to ClearBlue Water Project," said Melanie Brooks of ClearBlue. "This will certainly go a long way in our mission to supply the displaced people of Haiti with clean safe water."
Hands on the World Global
The second grant, $2,350, was provisionally made to Hands on the World Global Inc. for the construction of potable water well systems in Jeremie, Haiti. Hands on the World Global was formed to provide the basic needs of water and food for the security of people in developing countries and those who suffer from the aftermath of conflict or disaster. The organization believes in developing leadership and showing people how they can make a difference in their own lives and in the lives of others. It states it believes in teaching self sufficiency.
Overview for 2008
$16,000 in grants were awarded by NGWREF to three different organizations doing water well construction projects in differing regions of the developing world. This is the second time in the Foundation's history to award developing world grants. Tarahumarra Children's Hospital Fund, Mexico Receiving $6,000 is the Tarahumarra Children's Hospital Fund for constructing water wells in the villages served by the hospital located near Creel in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico's Copper Canyon region. According to Steve Schneider, MGWC, a water well contractor from Oregon who has volunteered for the hospital, "On one site where I was assisting with a new well, a man with a burro carrying a couple of five-gallon containers took over three hours making the roundtrip from our drill site and back, and he had still further to go to finish transporting the water to his family." Pictured here is a water well benediction ceremony held by Tarahumarra Indians. View the transformation from water hole to water well. Ann Campana Judge Foundation Receiving $5,000 is second-time grant winner, the Ann Campana Judge Foundation. The funds will be used for potable water projects in Guatemala, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, or El Salvador. "Thank you so much for your notification of a $5,000 match to be provided to the Ann Campana Judge Foundation," writes Mike Campana, Judge Foundation president. "We are extremely grateful, and would ask that you convey our heartfelt thanks to the Foundation and its board." Malawi A school in the Malawi village of Geisha will be benefiting from a $5,000 grant made to the Richland, Washington, Westside Presbyterian Church. "Thank you so much," says Rochelle Holm, the organizer of the church's initiative. "This grant will improve the lives of hundreds of poor villagers. Clean water really is an invaluable resource."
Los Cerros De Aminilla and Barrigon in the Dajabon region of the Dominican Republic
Villagers living in Los Cerros De Aminilla and Barrigon in the Dajabon region of the Dominican Republic will benefit from NGWREF's $10,000 grant to the Ann Campana Judge Foundation, which in turn has partnered with the Engineers Without Borders Chapter at the University of Tennessee (EWB-UTK). Currently the two communities, with about 300 people combined, share one working well. The well does not produce enough water for both communities. Additionally, the well is a great enough distance away as to be a burden to several young and elderly members of the communities. EWB-UTK has partnered with a regional government agency entitled SINDICO to help bring water to the people of the area. SINDICO participated by drilling and casing two new wells in Los Cerros De Aminilla and one new well in Barrigon. EWB-UTK plans to outfit the new wells, repair some older wells, and install tanks to increase the region's water storage capabilities.