Making a living can be a daily challenge, and ever more so when raising a child. For women and children in parts of Uganda, water wells are making it possible to thrive. Heal & Thrive, a nonprofit focused on educating and empowering single mothers in Uganda, found that access to clean water was a major barrier to women having time to work, or if they worked, their children may miss schooling to collect water. Since identifying this foundational need, Heal & Thrive has worked with local Ugandan staff and contractors to identify ideal locations and installed over 50 wells, providing accessible water to over 79,000 people. With water closer at hand, single mothers in these communities are able to spend time developing their skills, their businesses, and their children.
Cascade Energy’s Stephanie Eisner, Program Manager of one of our Strategic Energy Management programs and a wastewater and water treatment expert, became involved with Heal & Thrive. Her initial involvement was as a sponsor of child-headed households, helping to make it possible for these young people in Uganda to attend boarding school and meet their needs. Since this first exposure to the work of the nonprofit, Stephanie has been applying her depth of knowledge from the wastewater and water treatment field to support Heal & Thrive’s water program. More recently, as of February 2023, Stephanie has been leading their efforts to bring water accessibility to villages as well as supporting grant writing efforts.
World Water Day (Wednesday, March 22) brings global focus to the importance of water for one day, and we’re glad there are organizations championing causes like this all year long. Cascade Energy is proud to have people like Stephanie Eisner on the team bringing expertise from years in the industry to important work with organizations like Heal & Thrive, as well as highlighting the importance of altruism by sharing her story with our team, and now, you. Water is fundamental to the human experience and can often be found at the core of some of Cascade Energy’s efficiency projects. If you’re interested in learning more about what you can do to improve global accessibility to safe water, Heal & Thrive could be a place to start.
