Friday, February 12, 2010
Sawyer Products, a Florida-based water filter manufacturer, has donated 269 water filters to Northwest Haiti Christian Mission’s earthquake relief efforts. The filters will provide vital clean water to communities in Northwest Haiti and in the Port-au-Prince area.
Children at NWHCM's orphanage in Saline Mayette use a Sawyer pointONE water filter. Courtesy Amy Reed / Sawyer Products
Thanks to a special matching program by Sawyer, the filters were provided through a combination of individual gifts, and generous donations from Messiah College students and the congregation of First Church of Christ in Burlington, Kentucky.
After the earthquake struck Haiti, Amy Reed, a Sawyer employee and Messiah College alumna, got in touch with Messiah’s women’s basketball team to raise funds for filters. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams made appeals at four home games and raised over $3,800 for filters.
“Clean water is of critical importance after a natural disaster because existing water sources can very easily become contaminated and an epidemic of waterborne diseases can be just as deadly as the natural disaster itself,” Reed said. “The Sawyer filters that were donated to NWHCM take literally minutes to install, are easy to maintain, require no chemicals and are powered by gravity. They are not just a short-term solution, they will be providing clean water to the Haitians weeks, months and years down the road.”
The Sawyer pointONE filter is the official water filter for NWHCM development projects. The filters will be distributed through NWHCM’s partners in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas to help those who were affected by the earthquake, as well as in communities in Northwest Haiti to provide badly needed clean water for poor families and refugees.
Learn more about pointONE filters by clicking here.
To donate to NWHCM’s earthquake relief efforts, click here.
