history of thirst project

That story — Tentele, and hundreds of communities just like it — all traces back to something so small it's almost hard to believe. How much money do you think it takes to start a global movement? 

 Well, Thirst Project started with $70. Our founder Seth — he's on the far right here — was 19 years old when he first heard about the global water crisis. He got some friends together, they pooled everything they had, and that came out to just $70. With that, they bought cases of water and some jerry cans

They took everything out to Hollywood Boulevard and just started talking to people like you and me. Handing out water, and having real conversations about what the water crisis actually looks like around the world.”

They challenged people on the street to carry full jerry cans down to the Gap and back– just to feel what it’s like. They felt it and gave back for the water they received. In one day, $70 became an astonishing $1,700. Seth and his friends sent it off to repair an existing water well, and thought their work was done

But then, something unexpected happened. Schools nearby started reaching out, asking Seth and his friends to come speak to their students about the water crisis. Naturally, their first reaction was “ we can't do that, we have finals next week!” But still, they showed up, and led fundraisers that raised over $12,000”

They wrote out their check to “ The Thirst Project”, solidifying their belief that young people were absolutely capable of changing the world– they just needed someone to activate them around this issue

“And that’s exactly what Thirst Project became.

What we do is exactly what’s happening right now: we travel around the world, speaking at middle schools, high schools, colleges,

and educating students about the global water crisis and challenging them to help us end it. And students everywhere have been

Another event that makes Thirst Project awesome is our annual Thirst Gala.. Thirst Project HQ puts on an event which celebrates what we accomplished in the past 12 months, and we’ve had so many celebrities participate.

This is Adam Sandler and Bryce Dallas Howard, who gave away the Power of Youth Award a few years ago, which goes to the one student every year that blows us away the most in their effort to change the world. So if one of you ever wins the award, you get an all-expenses paid trip to Hollywood and you’ll be honored at the gala!

And so many other amazing celebrities have helped us spread our message, like the party planning committee from the office…

Jennifer Garner, John Cena, Crystal Reed, and so many more!

There are two things we have felt strongly about since the very beginning. Number 1: if a student could only give a dollar, then 100% of that dollar would go directly to funding water projects, without Thirst Project taking any admin or overhead for operational expenses. The only way we could do that is if we had a separate group of people paying for all the stuff that nobody wants to pay for — like office space, travel, salaries, and Post-its. So we built our board. Our board is a group of 17 epic individuals who give insanely large amounts of money, knowing that none of it will go to build wells — that ALL of their money will go toward the stuff that nobody wants to pay for — so that we can guarantee students and public donors that 100% of their money goes to building water projects.

That's thing number one. Thing number two?

If a student, club, church, or school raises $12,000 to fully fund a well, we wouldn't just say, 'Thanks for your $12,000. See you next year.' We'd send you the name and details of the community that you funded. Then 9-12 months later, we'd report back with completed reports, photos, and a personalized 'thank you' video to the donor from the community that they helped bring clean water to."

Most of Thirst Project’s support to build water projects does not come from Hollywood or corporate donors. It comes from YOU, the students that make up our movement. Since Thirst Project began in 2008, students have helped raised over 16 million dollars to provide safe, clean drinking water to over 750,000 people in 13 different countries. 

But here’s the problem. Society tells us that life is supposed to go something like this: we’re born, we go to school, we go to school to get good grades. We get good grades to get into a good college. Get into a good college and get even more good grades. More good grades so you can get a good job. That good job gets us a lot of money, so that we can buy some really cool stuff. We buy that really cool stuff, so we can die. 

I want to invite you into something more adventurous than that! I am inviting you to join a movement a young people, a ragtag group of hundreds of schools, thousands of crazy students just like you. All around the world, big and small, all kinds of passions and interests, but with one common belief: We can change the world. 

We’re a joyful rebellion. We are rebelling against the voices that tell us that we can’t change the world, that we as a generation need to wait until we have more money or power or degrees or experience. Not only do we truly believe we can change the world, we have already begun proving we WILL change the world!

18 years ago, when Thirst Project started, 1.1 billion people on our planet lacked access to safe, clean drinking water. Despite the increase in global population, the number of people now without access to safe drinking water has almost been cut in half. Today, 695 million people are living without access to safe, clean drinking water, and while that is still 695 million too many, we will without question be the generation to push the water crisis into the history books.

So we now know that the global water crisis is a problem, and that we are going to be the generation to end it. what does it look like to take action to end the global water crisis?

My first ask of you today is not to give lots of money. My first ask of you is to talk. Leave here and TELL EVERY SINGLE PERSON you can get your hands on about the water crisis.  

It could be your crazy rich relative who is afflicted with affluence and has more money than they know what to do with. Introduce them to us. If we are going to come anywhere close to reaching our goals, we have got to get more groups and students raising awareness and making people look at this issue more than ever before. 

So follow us on social media right now! We’re @thirstproject pretty much everywhere. Not only can you check out if your favorite celebrity has worked with Thirst Project, but every Friday, we shout out a group of students that are taking action to help us change the world.

Second ask, recruit your squads. Get in groups, because there is strength in numbers. Grab your best friends, your student council, key club, honor society, soccer team, the coolest teacher in school, and start planning.