While most 19 year olds are in the midst of their college party days, in 2008, one group of friends from Southern California embarked on a seemingly impossible mission- to provide the world with access to clean drinking water. After having a rude awakening to the staggering facts that (at the time) there were 1.1 BILLION people without access to clean water and that waterborne diseases are the number one killer for children worldwide, founder Seth Maxwell was compelled to take action. Gathering seven of his closest friends and pooling their money (literally $70), they bought 1,000 water bottles and headed to Hollywood Boulevard to hand them out, while raising awareness about the issue. By the end of the day, the $70 they started out with had turned into $1700, which allowed them to fund their first rehabilitation of a freshwater well. Before they knew it, their initiative had taken on a life of its own and they were getting requests to speak at schools to raise awareness in the youth about this crisis. Since its commencement, The Thirst Project has raised $8 million and provided clean water to over 280,000 people.
What’s unique about The Thirst Project is that while their physical projects revolve around rehabilitating freshwater wells, their mission is to compel and inspire today’s youth to take their own actions towards permanently ending the global water crisis. By touring schools and speaking to the kids, they have reached over 300,000 students, who in turn have been the driving force between raising the $8 million.
In 2018, The Thirst Project partnered with The Ace Family, one of (if not the) Youtube’s biggest vloggers, and brought Austin McBroom to Swaziland, Africa, one of their main focuses. The Ace Family donated thousands of dollars to the cause and through his audience, Austin was able to bring millions of eyes to The Thirst Project and their mission. The foundation has boldly committed to bringing clean water to all of Swaziland by 2022.
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