CWFW has a simple concept — make access to clean water available to those without it.
Clean Water for the World is based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The organization is comprised of three arms: an all-volunteer-run board, founders Jerry & Judy Bohl who manufacture and coordinate shipment of supplies and purifiers to communities the world over, and the communities themselves who maintain and benefit from the purified water.
The Board of Directors meets monthly to move the organization forward in its mission to make clean water accessible to all. Aside from maintaining more than 250 units worldwide, the board identifies new regions and communities to install new purifiers which occurs by partnering with community organizations and organized communities to provide the purifiers. Further, they conduct fundraising campaigns including annual fundraisers called Walk for Water held in Kalamazoo and Toledo, raising an average of $25,000 per year.
Founders Jerry & Judy Bohl are the core of the organization. The workshop attached to their garage is where they manufacture the units. Hosting volunteers from 2-years-old to 80+ years old, Jerry and Judy guide people through the journey that is Clean Water for the World.
In their home, they welcome people with their passion to help others. In their workshop, volunteers help sort parts, put together sections of the purifiers, and build the water purifiers. Most notably, the Monday Men’s group meets weekly to fellowship and build purifiers.
Here, in Otsego, Michigan, the work put in is done with love and compassion. Since its inception, guided by Jerry’s hands and Judy’s heart, Clean Water for the World has grown to have a clean water purifier that provides up to 300 gallons per hour (5 gallons per minute) — a device with the capacity to provide enough purified water for a community of 600 people.
This compassion is linked with partnering charitable US-based organizations and communities who request the units. The recipient communities organize a water committee that educates their community on clean water maintenance and sanitation practices and commit to maintaining the purifier. Communities apply to have a unit shipped and installed in a public community space.
Partner organizations include Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS) in El Salvador, Asociación Unidos por la Vida in Guatemala and Hands and Hearts for Haiti in Haiti. These three countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Haiti) have the highest concentration of water purifiers. Here, water promotors accompany communities in their community development projects, including building water systems that deliver water from the source to the community. Due to their extensive work, a majority of these communities have piped water directly to the homes of the community members.
The added-value CWFW provides with the water purifier helps families save time and money spent collecting firewood to boil water, medical costs due to diarrhea and other water-borne illnesses, and increases overall quality of life.