LifeStraw personal and Community water filters are produced by Vestergaard Frandsen, a company founded in 1957 which specializes in water filters and mosquito netting to prevent malaria.  Vestergaard Frandsen produces a great water filter which is inexpensive, has no moving parts, is portable, and has no need for electricity, and filters out 99.9999% of all waterborne bacteria.  The individual units are good for one person’s daily use for up to a year, and the community units are good for 100 people for three years. 

At first we looked at shipping bottled water in, but the costs were way too high. Our research provided an answer: The solution is to provide as many people as possible as quickly as possible with the LifeStraw – a personal filtration system with no moving parts that filters out 99.999% of all impurities, costs less than $10 each, and will provide a full year’s supply of clean water for an entire year – each unit is rated to filter at least 750 liters of water. This has been tested and proven.

It can be used like a straw to drink through, or water can be poured through it. It is safe and effective, requires no replacement parts and no power source.

Why LifeStraws instead of permanent solutions?

There are many organizations and charities putting in wells and  other long term solutions.   In the meantime, while waiting for these permanent solutions, people are dying at the rate of one every 15 seconds (source: United Nations).  Our goal is to keep them alive long enough for the permanent solutions to be implemented.

How much does a LifeStraw cost?

While these items retail for up to $25 each, through a special arrangement with Vestergaard Frandsen we are able to obtain them for only $10 and have them delivered to our partner NGOs, who then distribute them at their cost.

How much of what I donate will be used for LifeStraws?  What percentage of the money goes directly to help those who need it?

100%.  We have no paid staff – we are all volunteers.   We are organized through the Greater Round Rock Community Foundation, who charges us 1% to handle all the bookkeeping, tax records and acknowledgments.  For the time periods that they are holding our funds, they invest them gaining more than 1% which offsets our cost of doing business through them. Meeting space is donated to us as well.  That being said, we have virtually no overhead.