New Officers Lead Safe Water Toast At World Help Foundation

Last Sunday the World Help Foundation and friends celebrated the nonprofit foundation’s successes in bringing safe drinking water to many people around the world who did not previously have it.

Currently 1.2 billion people in the world lack safe water. Of them, 3.4 million die annually, a child every few seconds, and hundreds of thousands suffer painfully from water-borne diseases.

The World Help Foundation was founded by Harvey Sellner and has successfully carried out its mission by fielding safe water solutions in Armenia, Columbia, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, and Somalia, as well as responding to natural disasters in El Salvador and Venezuela –– all from its headquarters at 255 South Main Street in Newtown.

Among those who gathered at the event on Sunday were Mr Sellner and his wife Calla, JoAnn MacDonald, Catherine Lombard, Arang Cistulli, Mary K. Tauras, WHF chief executive officer, and Charles P. Samson, chief financial and organizational officer . Ms MacDonald, Ms Lombard, and Ms Cristulli are volunteers who are beginning to assist the foundation with community awareness and education program development, promotion, and administrative assistance.

Those attending celebrated by raising champagne glasses filled with sweet water. The water, originally manganese-laden, blackish (day old coffee looking) water taken from a tub and pumped through a Disaster Relief Unit with UV purifiers and filters, came out sparkling, safe and clear, into a glass punch bowl.

As the foundation’s new CEO, Ms Tauras, and Mr Samson, the other new executive officer, are restructuring the WHF to build upon the work of its founder.

“Many say that the problem is so massive that if they gave it would ‘just be a drop in the bucket,’” Ms Tauras said. “The foundation encourages people to join their ‘safe water drop’ with those of others to ‘fill bucket after bucket, after…’, knowing that they are able to prevent this unnecessary death and suffering. Instead of women and children having to walk, sometimes for hours, to collect dirty water, those buckets are able to be filled, by up to eight users simultaneously, from water equipment located very near families’ homes. Safe water is provided by point-of-use and whole facility units in clinics, schools, and orphanages, too.”

The foundation responds globally but is very concerned about water issues locally. They hope to offer cost-effective solutions for local problems. They also hope to serve the local community through a program of education about global basic needs, solutions, and opportunities for action, and other activities, including some for which youth can earn community service hours.

The foundation has the possibility of considerable funding for facility and community-access equipment, which is among the finest equipment in the industry, easy to install and maintain in rural villages, but cannot send it to where it is needed unless core costs are covered, Mr Samson said.

“We urgently need the core costs funded so that this life-essential equipment can be put into place,” he said.

Contributions and requests for information can be sent to World Help Foundation at PO Box 500, Newtown, CT 06470. Ms Tauras and Mr Samson also invite readers to contact them at mktauras@worldhelpfound.org or csamson@worldhelpfound.org if they are interested in seeing the WHF facility in Newtown.