Recently while attending the Nebraska Hospital Association conference I had the pleasure of hearing Doc Hendley, Founder of Wine To Water speak.  I was unaware of the organization before the conference, but blown away by their story.  Their website (www.winetowater.org) provides a brief overview of their story and reads as follows:

Doc Hendley dreamed up the concept of Wine To Water while bartending and playing music in nightclubs around Raleigh, NC.

In February 2004, Doc held his first fundraiser. And by August, he was living halfway around the globe in Sudan, Africa installing water systems for victims of the government-supported genocide.

His life would never be the same.

After spending one year in Darfur, Doc returned home. The haunting memories of what he had witnessed drove him to continue building the organization he started with that first fundraiser in a bar. Doc was determined to provide clean water for the world.

In 2007, after working two jobs and volunteering his time for three years, Doc launched Wine To Water. His dream of fighting the world’s water crisis became a reality. But that was just the beginning.

His presentation went into much greater detail and I would encourage to search youtube and listen to it yourself as it’s quite inspirational.

Today, Wine To Water has completed projects in 13 countries, benefiting approximately 750,000 people.  They raise funds to combat the world water crisis, but also execute their own programs in the field as well. Currently, Wine To Water has three international offices in: Nepal, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia. This means that, in each of these three countries, Wine To Water employs a collaboration of qualified nationals who work full time toward sustainable clean water solutions catered to the specific country’s needs.