As a plumbing company, World Plumbing Day (March 11) is pretty important to us. This year our team wanted to do something special, and spread the word about the importance of clean water and sanitation. We also wanted to give a donation to Ryan’s Well Foundation, a registered charity committed to providing clean water to those who don’t have it.
Ryan’s Well is a charity that helps build wells and latrines in developing countries. In many places, people have to walk miles every day to get clean water and become ill due to lack of good sanitation facilities. We are so lucky here in Canada to have clean water and flushing toilets, and we wanted to extend our help to places where this isn’t available.
From March 1st to March 11th we donated $5 per service call we received. On March 11th itself we had a share-a-thon on Twitter and Facebook to spread the word about World Plumbing Day. We donated $1 every time one of our friends shared the tweet or post.
The grand total came to $304! We want to thank all of our great customers and our friends on Twitter and Facebook who made this happen. We had so much fun that we decided to round that number up to $500!
Yesterday, I met up with the wonderful staff from Ryan’s Well at their office in Kemptville to hand over the cheque. As you may know, 6-year old Ryan Hreljac started the charity in 1998 when he was in grade one. He collected donations from classmates and his community to build his first well in Uganda. Today Ryan’s Well is still going strong and working hard to help people.
Spokesperson Jane Baird said, “Everyone can make a difference in the world, and Wendy and Dave have just proved that with their World Plumbing Day campaign. The proceeds will help build new latrines for the students of Angolo Primary School…the site of Ryan’s very first well in Uganda. We’re so appreciative to everyone at DS Plumbing for caring about those who lack access to clean water and sanitation. Thank you!”
I hope you will take a moment to remember how lucky we are in Canada to have clean water whenever we want it, and great sanitation and sewage systems. If you can, I encourage you to make a donation to Ryan’s Well, and help them bring clean water to people all over the world.
Good health to you!
Dave Smythe
