Partners
Gratitude. Sense of community. Sense of feeling recognized. At The Salvation Army, as clients come in for appointments and services, many times they have walked for many blocks in the unavoidable heat of downtown Houston. Many of our clients are simply searching for some financial help in their desperation of daily uncertainty. As they enter our offices, the first thing they see are the HOPE water bottles right next to the door. These provoke many interesting reactions in our clients. “Can we have some?” “Is it free?” “Are these for us?” We acknowledge with a smile these are for them to take, free of charge. Clients’ reactions are of disbelief since this might be the only sign of unconditional kindness they have received in a while.
Many of our clients live lives filled with stress and repeated trauma. Many of our clients have to invent ways to beat the system and gain some relief to their constant stress. Our clients have learned of rejection and survival through conflict. Having water and the powerful message behind the logo “HOPE”, brings more than just smiles, brings gratitude, sense of community, and recognition of the clients as fellow human beings.
Thank you for bringing HOPE with water.
– Gerald Eckert
I hate to think of what it would have been like for our clients during these oppressively hot summers without the water provided by Elena Davis and the I Am Waters Foundation.
Homeless men, women and children coming to our shelters and those we could reach on the street received bottles of water from this life saving donation. Every day during this past summer and the summer of 2010 we distributed water to those who needed it the most. Daily, we loaded our Love In Action van with cold bottles of the water and tried to reach everyone we could who was out in the heat to make sure they got the water their bodies need to survive during the high temperatures in Houston.
Elena Davis and the I Am Waters Foundation has made a true impact on the homeless in Houston. Elena’s compassion and commitment to the poor and homeless is evident through her care and concern about their basic needs. She is really making a difference in Houston and many other cities. We are so grateful to the I Am Waters Foundation. Over the past two years, Star of Hope has distributed more than 100,000 bottles of I Am Waters to homeless men, women and children. Without this generous donation, we simply would not have had any to give out.
– Betty Nunnally
On behalf of HHH and the homeless we serve, I am so grateful for the water provided to each of our patients. Water is essential for survival, without it we perish. Water helps prevent and treat illness. Although many people have access to water through the privilege conferred by domicility, homeless persons often may be thirsty or suffer from problems related to inadequate hydration. Thanks to IAW, our capacity to give water lends a vital message to our patients, we understand some of the tremendous hardships related to homelessness and we care. This helps us building trusting relationships.
– Dr. David Buck
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. We appreciate our partnership with I Am Waters because it allows us to bridge the chasm of distrust that often separates the police from the homeless community. We use I Am Waters’ water as the first link in the building of positive relationships that have become the capstone of our efforts to reduce the number of people living on the streets.
– Officer. Jaime Giraldo
I Am Waters has been an invaluable resource to people who are homeless and those who serve them in our community. One of SEARCH’s primary services is our Mobile Outreach Program, which engages individuals who are geographically and socially isolated. In addition to helping individuals living on the streets access critical connections and care, SEARCH would also bring sack meals, water, blankets, and other necessities. With I Am Waters’ contribution, SEARCH is able to better focus our impact through skilled case management and motivate even the most isolated and challenged to make life change possible.
– Thao Costis
Goodwill Industries Houston
www.goodwillhouston.org
Houston, Texas
713 692 6221
C_Canton@goodwillhouston.org
The summer of 2011 was one of the hottest anyone remembers. Working with I AM WATERS allowed us to give bottles of water to the homeless population we serve. As clients came to us for help with housing and employment, we could offer them a basic need for existence: “water”. While clients were able to nourish themselves physically, the words imprinted on the bottle nourished their souls. In dealing with this population we know they are sometimes without “hope” in so many ways. This collaboration was one where both I AM WATERS and Goodwill were able to give just that to the Houston community: HOPE.
– Terry Seufert
I have always admired those who give without expecting something in return, not just around the holidays or every so often. I know this life is a rat race for many of us, but I AM WATERS shows that somebody does love you and somebody does care about you. There is HOPE, LOVE, FAITH and JOY in every one of us.
Zeljka Mijic
The water donation provided by I Am Waters to Covenant House Texas was a welcome relief. During this extremely hot/dry summer not having to purchase water and have it available for our youth was great. It was good to have the opportunity to educate our youth on recycling and protecting the environment. Thank you I Am Waters for the recycling bends to collect the bottles. The most amazing part for our youth was when I had an opportunity to share with them the vision behind I Am Waters. They were most over joyed that some one was so concern for homeless people to create this idea. I want to say continue to be a light to those who need this basic necessity and can’t afford it.
– Ronda G. Robinson
Several years ago the Palmer Way Station began purchasing bottled water to hand out during the hot summer months to our guests. This was a welcome relief for our guests. As our budget was limited, The Palmer congregation began special Sunday collections for this effort.
The next year I Am Waters contacted us. We gratefully and happily accepted their offer to provide this needed and precious resource.
The water is distributed by volunteers as our guests leave the Way Station.
Many guests comment on the bottles and the different messages on each label. Some even like to collect the different bottles!
We look forward to a blessed relationship with this organization that is so vital to the homeless population of Houston.
– Terry Henry
The water your organization shared with our population came at a perfect time! This summer was one of the hottest summers ever! It (the water) nourished our clients both physically and spiritually! They expressed their gratitude after seeing multiple organizations with the same bottles with peace and love on them receiving the message as they congregated with one another while enduring the heat for multiple weeks! Thanks again for your love and dedication to serving the homeless population!
– Donnie Wilson
For the last three years, I Am Waters has served our residents with bottled water to travel on the bus to work, interviews, and other places. Our residents have to catch more than one bus to, and from, their appointments, with up to 3 hours or more of travel time. It has been very hot, and water is hard to come by. Without I Am Waters help; Mission of Yahweh’s homeless women and children would not have portable water to drink and powerful words of encouragement to read such as: LOVE, PEACE, HOPE and DREAM, while traveling to their destinations. It serves a dual purpose for some of our clients who are mothers traveling with babies, as it is also added to baby formula, and helps with feeding and hydrating infants. I Am Waters is a real blessing in filling this great need for Homeless women and children.
– Betty Godso
The I Am Waters Foundation not only brought a tangible source of life to our clients but also gave the homeless in Tarrant County a sense of hope. In the over 100 degree heat of the summer, the bottled water served as a welcome refreshment as many paused in their daily routine walking the streets to read the different labels. One homeless mother said the labeled water bottles reminded her to ‘dream’. She smiled as she picked up the water, showed her son, told him the meaning of ‘dream’ and the impact it would have on them, with tears in her eyes.
The Foundation, through the photography campaign as well as the bottled water, helped the most vulernable of our community and the staff at PNS feel special and a part of something much greater.
– Macy Hill
This was a brutal summer for Austin’s homeless of more than 60 days of triple-digit temperatures. Without the generosity of the I Am Waters Foundation and the distribution of over 600 bottles of water each day, the heat-related injuries would have been devastating. Aside from the water, the talk of the town was the incredible messaging the bottles allowed. Once our clients learned the messaging was tailored to the homeless, that the bottles and the water were created specifically with them in mind, word spread. Some wanted a bottle with a specific word, others collected all the different versions. And the labels became keepsakes…peeled from the bottles, IAW labels can be found on backpacks, jeans, wheelchairs and sleeping bags all over Austin.
Treasures are the things that mean the most to us. IAW is a treasure we hold close to our hearts. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
– Mitchell Gibbs
Water is simply the source of life! Water is a vital, life giving gift. The lack of it, even modestly, can have a profound negative impact on the human person. We witness this daily on the streets of Austin through compromised immune systems leading to compromised health. The I Am Waters Foundation addresses this foundational need in a profound way by providing life giving water to those most in need. Mobile Loaves & Fishes is grateful beyond words for this gift. Thank you!
– Alan Graham
