From Wine to Water

Doc Hendley, a bartender from North Carolina, launched the organization Wine to Water in February of 2004, as he says, “to fight the water epidemic the best way I knew how, by pouring wine and playing music.” Today, the nonprofit can be credited with providing clean, filtered water to nine countries across the globe. Projects supported by Wine to Water include drilling wells in the poorest regions of Peru, Ethiopia and Cambodia. In Cambodia, an astonishing 74% of deaths are directly related to a lack of clean water. The organization also provided ceramic water filters to Haiti after last year’s devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake, and constructed entire water systems for an orphanage in the slums of Sudan and a leper colony in New Delhi, India.

To ensure that these communities will have regular access to safe drinking water, Wine to Water emphasizes education as part of its core mission. In Uganda, for example, villagers learned the basics of bio-sand filtration using local materials. Bio-sand filters are put in homes, schools, health clinics and other places in need of a clean water source. The filters, made with piping and concrete, plastic or old drums, force water to pass slowly through both organisms and grains of sand to remove impurities.

Currently, Wine to Water is working to fight the cholera outbreak in Haiti. Thirty dollars will buy a filter that kills 99.9% of bacteria, and is completely effective against cholera, salmonella and typhoid, without any runoff of dangerous chemicals or environmental waste. And the organization sells bottles of its own Old Vine Zinfandel and Chardonnay ($16/bottle, $192/case) with a portion of the proceeds benefitting their global efforts.

CONTACT: Wine to Water.