This week The Mount Holyoke News had the oppotunity to interview Melissa White ’13, a Chemistry and Poltics double major, who coordinates the campus project to fundraise for the organization Charity: water to build wells in water-poor areas. She has currently distributed boxes on campus to collect redeemable bottles to donate money to the organization.

The Mount Holyoke News: What is the project about?

MW: My charity: water basically is a non-profit organization that aims to bring water resources and education about sanitation to water poor areas. Originally why I liked this organization is because it takes the ideas of a non-profit and infuses an entrepreneurial spirit into it. It really encourages individuals and the community to create fundraisers and educate on their own through the community. They do this using social media and online resources, which really shows that individuals that they can make a difference to contribute to a cause as big as water issues. I think that’s what’s unique about it and why I originally fell in love with it.

They actually go out into the field, take pictures of the project, they talk to the people, do interview and send you the GPS coordinates exactly where that well is so you know exactly where your money goes into. Literally every dollar of this non-profit is tracked.

MHN: What have you done so far?

MW: So far me and my friend Emily Lindaeur ’13 started doing this project in our freshman year here and it’s evolved a bit to include the Center for the Environment because we would like to make it a more campus-wide campaign. I know Mount Holyoke is a pretty cash-poor campus so we wanted to make sure we were going for our target audience really including the whole campus by doing campaign drives to collect money that way. I have been trying to reach out the other people and we have a table at Pangy Day with a water balloon set up. We’re just trying to get the word out about these issues and fundraise for these wells.

MHN: What is the value of the project on campus?

MW: In America, I think we have the idea that water is a never-ending resource and that it will always be here. But water is really a global issue. I’m from Florida where we have droughts and are constantly fighting over water with Georgia and I think a lot of people are really disconnected from the issue because water is cheap here. Water literally sustains life and I think of having water a human right. We share that common of needing water and that commonality between people all across the globe is a really good connection to other people.

Millions of people are dying and that why charity: water surpasses that political issue to help get water to the people and it helps communities. Women become empowered when they don’t have to walk five miles to get dirty drinking water during which in a lot of cases they get raped or abused somewhere along the way. Politically, I think it strengthens the communities and gives them more of a voice.

Water has so many other issues that intersect with it that if you are interested in education, women’s rights or health, all of these things really come down to water resources in these areas. So simply bringing them water allows the children to go to school instead of collecting water and gives them access to clean water. I know that diarrhea due to bad drinking water is one of the main causes leading to death in the world.

MHN: How do you plan to continue in the future?

MW: We definitely need support from the campus community and so I think that’s the beauty of the bottle and can campaign. A lot of people on this campus drink from bottles that can be redeemed so just simple activities such as saving those bottles that are redeemable in Massachusetts and contacting us helps. I know we definitely want to continue with our Pangy Day presentation and I definitely want to get a Blanchard display in the art gallery. I would like the whole campus to know where the collection bins are and create a higher visibility for the campaign where they can put the bottles in the boxes and really see the impact of their work. Something as simple as putting a bottle in a box can lead to a well in Africa or in Latin America and I think it’s really important for people to see that one small contribution really does make a difference. They can get physically involved in it, not just reading about it or writing papers but working on it right now to influence the future project and impact the lives of the people it’s geared towards.

MHN: What is the project about?

MW: My charity: water basically is a non-profit organization that aims to bring water resources and education about sanitation to water poor areas. Originally why I liked this organization is because it takes the ideas of a non-profit and infuses an entrepreneurial spirit into it. It really encourages individuals and the community to create fundraisers and educate on their own through the community. They do this using social media and online resources, which really shows that individuals that they can make a difference to contribute to a cause as big as water issues. I think that’s what’s unique about it and why I originally feel in love with it.

MHN: How does the organization collaborate with donors?

MW: They actually go out into the field, take pictures of the project, they talk to the people, do interview and send you the GPS coordinates exactly where that well is so you know exactly where your money goes into. Literally every dollar of this non-profit is tracked and the man who started it was living on his friend’s couch and it all started with a birthday party.  He asked everyone to give donations  to the project for his birthday. I think this is an ideal non-profit.  It gets you excited about water, it gets you excited about helping people, its not about feeling bad or feeling guilty about what you haven’t done, it’s about getting excited and getting motivated about what you have and what you can do.

MHN: What have you done so far?

MW: So far me and my friend Emily Lindaeur ’13 started doing this project in our freshman year here and it’s evolved a bit to include the Center for the Environment because we would like to make it a more campus-wide campaign. I know Mount Holyoke is a pretty cash-poor campus so we wanted to make sure we were going for our target audience really including the whole campus by doing campaign drives to collect money that way. I have been trying to reach out the other people and we have a table at Pangy Day with a water balloon set up. We’re just trying to get the word out about these issues and fundraise for these wells.

MHN: What is the value of the project on campus?

MW: In America, I think we have the idea that water is a never-ending resource and that it will always be here.  But water is really a global issue. I’m from Florida where we have droughts and are constantly fighting over water with Georgia and I think a lot of people are really disconnected from the issue because water is cheap here. Water literally sustains life and I think of having water a human right. We share that common of needing water and that commonality between people all across the globe is a really good connection to other people.

MHN: Isn’t building the well only temporarily solving the problem and not the political issues behind the issue?

MW: Drilling the wells help their (the people’s) environment for agriculture to irrigate their fields better Sometimes the issue is geographic where the water poor areas just don’t have a lot of water. But there are political issues about how they cannot get access to water. Millions of people are dying and that why charity: water surpasses that political issue to help get water to the people   and it helps communities. It helps them health-wise, it helps them education-wise and omen become empowered when they don’t have to walk five miles to get dirty drinking water during which in a lot of cases they get raped or abused somewhere along the way. Politically, I think it strengthens the communities and gives them more of a voice.

Water has so many other issues that intersect with it that if you are interested in education, women’s rights or health, all of these things really come down to water resources in these areas.  So simply bringing them water allows the children to go to school instead of collecting water and gives them access to clean water. I know that diarrhea due to bad drinking water is one of the main causes leading to death in the world.

Future

We definitely need support from the campus community and so I think that’s the beauty of the bottle and can campaign. A lot of people on this campus drink from bottles that can be redeemed so just simple activities such as saving those bottles that are redeemable in Massachusetts and contacting us helps. I know we definitely want to continue with our Pangy Day presentation and I definitely want to get a Blanchard display in the art gallery. I would like the whole campus to know where the collection bins are and create a higher visibility for the

campaign where they can put the bottles in the boxes and really see the impact of their work. Something as simple as putting a bottle in a box can lead to a well in Africa or in Latin America and you can go online and see the GPS coordinates and I think it’s really important for people to see that one small contribution really does make a difference. They can get physically involved in it, not just reading about it or writing papers but working on it right now to influence the future project and impact the lives of the people it’s geared towards.

Related posts:

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2. Eco reps clean up students’ water use
3. Something in the water…
4. Let them have Coke, when all they want is water
5. Environmental Action Coalition battles with H20: