"Everyone wanted to do something to help the tsunami victims," said Molly. "When Mayor Riley came out in support of WMI, he showed people in Charleston how they could contribute to the relief effort through a local organization. People who had never heard of Water Missions International saw us on the news or read about us in the paper, and they decided, I want to be a part of that. I want to help those people in Asia who are suffering so much, and this is a concrete way I can help."
Over 250 people from all walks of life volunteered to assemble Living WaterT Treatment Systems or to help out in the office. They ranged in age from 14 to 85, in occupation from students to retirees to doctors to homemakers to managers to roofers. Several school and church groups spent hours building systems, as did dozens of AmeriCorps volunteers.
"The volunteers were absolutely integral to this effort," said WMI CEO and cofounder George Greene III. "An LWTST takes 40 man-hours to build. WMI sent out 97 over the course of 2 ½ months. That's a total of 3,880 hours of labor in assembling units, an average of 51 hours per day. It's remarkable when you think about it in those terms."
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Volunteers working in WMI's production center.
High school students assembling manifolds for Living WaterT Treatment Systems. |
