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5th Annual Benefit Success

Posted on June 9, 2016 by admin

A Welcome Note from Saha’s Co-founder & Board Member, Vanessa Green

Last Thursday marked our 5th Annual Benefit in Boston at the W Hotel! It was a great success and we were able to raise just shy of $20,000. The evening would have not been possible without the help of our sponsors Wolf Greenfield (gold sponsor), Dwell Proper (silver sponsor) and Oasys Water. Thank you all for your continued support. Another big thank you all of our attendees and volunteers for coming together for such a memorable evening.

With your help we will be able to continue to expand our impact in Ghana to bring clean drinking water to more people and job opportunities to more women. Your donations truly have a direct impact on so many lives in our partner communities and we are so grateful for your support.

What better way to recap the evening with some pictures? (See below). You can view more from our awesome photobooth here.

If you were unable to make the evening but are still looking to show your support please donate here. You can even set up monthly recurring donations so you can support our villages in Ghana throughout the year!

Thank you to all of our silent auction donors!

Benefit Volunteer Mike Kearney gets his raffle tickets in!

Saha’s 5th Annual Benefit in Boston

Posted on April 26, 2016April 26, 2016 by admin

This June, we are hosting our 5th Annual Benefit to raise funds for our cause, celebrate our successes and to thank our supporters that have helped us along the way. Join us for an evening of cocktails, light appetizers, auction and live music!

Early Bird Tickets are available until Monday, May 2nd

Purchase yours today!

Cocktail attire

Tickets will be $100 at the door

Fourth Annual Benefit Success

Posted on September 30, 2015September 30, 2015 by admin

This past Friday we had our Fourth Annual Benefit at the W Hotel in Boston. Our whole team was blown away by the tremendous amount of support we felt. It was so inspiring to be surrounded by a room full of Saha supporters as we celebrated all of our successes and made our announcement that our next country is…..NICARAGUA!

It is because of that support that we were able to raise $20,000 towards our expansion! We would like to thank everyone who helped make this night possible, especially our event sponsors: Wolf Greenfield, Dwell Proper, Oasys Water and KPMG; our Board of Directors: Vanessa Green, Sarah Kearney, Mark Moeremans and Pat Cahill; our amazing performers Amory Sivertson and Fermata Town; and all of our generous donors who contributed items to the auction.

We would also like to recognize the seven Next Step Living employees, who cycled nearly 400 miles the weekend before the Benefit as a part of Climate Ride, a non-profit that that raises awareness and funds for sustainable practices through multi-day bike-rides. The Next Step Living and Saha Global Climate Ride Team joined Climate Ride’s Northeast 5-day biking expedition, through Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts on September 17, and are raising funds for Saha Global through December. Thank you Next Step Living for your continued support!

Saha Executive Director & Co-founder welcome everyone — Saha Executive Director & Co-founder, Kate Clopeck welcomes everyone to the Benefit

From Left to Right, Pat Cahill (Board Member), Vanessa (Co-founder & Board Member), Kate Clopeck (Co-founder & Executive Director), Sam Reilley (Director of Operations & 2011 Field Rep Alum), Kathryn Padgett (Director of Programming & 2011 Field Rep Alum) and Brianan Kiernan (Past Ghana Country Director & 2012 Field Rep Alum)

There were many people invested in this expansion. There were hours worth of research that went into choosing which country would best suit Saha and we can not thank our Saha Challenge participants enough. Congrats to past field reps Bryant Foreman and Lucas Hilsbos for pitching Nicaragua and getting us to where we are today. And a huge thank you to past field reps Leah Staschke and Aly Carr for making an incredible case for Peru.

There is still a lot of work to do, but we feel confident in our ability to bring clean water and solar electricity to communities in Nicaragua that do not currently have access. In order to make our expansion into Nicaragua a reality we will need to establish a base to begin our in-country operations: plotting potential communities, researching local water treatment and solar materials and exploring local partnership opportunities. We are currently seeking an additional $50,000 to make that happen. Help get Saha to Nicaragua by donating on our website here.

SAVE THE DATE: Saha Benefit in Boston Sept.25th

Posted on July 15, 2015 by admin

Over the past 7 years, Saha has launched 93 businesses, which empower 191 women entrepreneurs that provide clean water and/or electricity to 40,900 people in Ghana. We have a 100% business success rate in Ghana and now are ready to grow! Over the past year we have been researching potential locations for Saha’s expansion and have narrowed it down to either Peru or Nicaragua. Now, we need your help to get there! All of the funds raised at this year’s Benefit will be used for on the ground research and piloting in Nicaragua or Peru. We are excited about expanding our impact and are so grateful for your support!

Join us for an evening of cocktails, light appetizers, a silent auction, raffle and live music!

EARLY BIRD TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE

InnovaSun Update: Turning Plans into Action

Posted on September 9, 2013November 22, 2013 by communitywatersolutions

Around this time last year, Community Water Solutions announced the kick-off of their Social Enterprise Competition at their annual benefit; an opportunity to bring new and innovative solutions to rural communities in Ghana and to expand the CWS model and brand to more than clean water.

After interactive workshops and valuable mentorship sessions, Ben Powell and Mark Moeremans decided to team up, bringing together a diverse set of skills and knowledge. And while there are a plethora of challenges and opportunities facing the people of Northern Ghana, the duo decided they could make a difference in the region’s lack of electric power, which results in poor health, limited education, decreased productivity, and traps the region’s people in poverty.

The team – also known as InnovaSun, proposed an entrepreneurial solar power business that leverages several of the ideas of CWS’s successful water business model – providing demand to a community in the form of rechargeable lanterns and charging individuals to recharge their appliances. The team went on to win the competition and the $10,000 prize as seed money to turn their idea into reality.

Since then, Ben and Mark have worked diligently to refine their project plan, test solar equipment, find local vendors in Ghana, develop contingency plans, and coordinate with the CWS ground team to ensure their success. Now with just one month before their departure, the team is finalizing their strategy and beginning to order the solar equipment that will hopefully bring electricity to a region that is almost entirely “off the grid.”

Ben and Mark will be arriving back in Ghana in late October – a year after presenting their social enterprise to a panel of judges. They will spend three weeks setting up a solar power business, training a new group of female entrepreneurs, and monitoring their progress / success in hopes of expanding their model in the future. Stay tuned to hear how their project goes, and who knows, maybe you’ll see an application for the InnovaSun project on the CWS page in the future!

CWS through a “Smitten & Hooked” lens

Posted on August 6, 2013 by samreilley

I met Lucy Parker Randall from Smitten and Hooked at my brother’s wedding. Her style, energy and talent can hardly go unnoticed! And when it came time for my wedding planning to begin, there wasn’t even a question of who would photograph it.

It was my wedding weekend, when Lucy told me “I want to come to Ghana!” A statement made by many, followed up by few. It was two months later when she called to talk dates so that she could mark her calendar and buy her flight! We were stoked!

This past Winter Fellowship Program Lucy donated two weeks of her time to come to Ghana and document CWS in the field. Whether it is the smiling face of a child, a simplistic picture of a safe storage container, the emotion on a woman’s face or the joy of someone drinking their clean water for the very first time, her photographs are truly works of art. We are so thankful for her donated time in Ghana to capture Community Water Solutions entrepreneurs, communities and fellows. The pictures are beyond beautiful and are now our main source for any picture we need.

Though we definitely have our favorite pictures, every time I go through the hundreds of pictures I stumble on another favorite. This year at our Third Annual Benefit we will be not only showcasing Lucy’s pictures, but you will be able to take them home with you! Discounted bird tickets are still available so click here to get yours today!

Thank you!

Posted on April 24, 2013 by communitywatersolutions

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Thank you all for supporting Community Water Solutions’ Indiegogo Campaign, Salamatu’s Story!

Our team was completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who donated to the campaign, tweeted, emailed, “liked” and shared the link! We are so grateful for your support. Thanks to your help, we were able to raise $18,314 in 5 short weeks! Amazing!

These funds will allow us to finalize our expansion to Salaga in time to host our first two teams of Community Water Solutions Fellows this Summer. The Salaga Fellowship Program will take place from June 19th – July 10th. We will be posting updates on the CWS blog through the entire program so be sure to check back for updates!

Over the next few weeks we will be working on sending out your perks, so be on the lookout for a fun package in the mail from CWS.

Thank you again for your continued support!

Salamatu’s Story: One Woman’s Journey to Becoming a CWS Water Entrepreneur

Posted on March 7, 2013March 14, 2013 by communitywatersolutions

Community Water Solutions has some EXCITING NEWS….

This morning we launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo in an effort to raise funds for our expansion in Ghana! For more details, check out our beautiful new video featuring Salamatu, one of the woman entrepreneurs in Chani, and considering supporting our cause!

A HUGE thanks to Phil Wall for directing and producing Salamatu’s Story, Lucy Parker Randall for capturing such beautiful photographs and videos of our work in Ghana, and Pete Seibert for composing the most perfect score for this video! You guys rock our world!

Annual Benefit Success

Posted on September 6, 2012February 12, 2013 by communitywatersolutions

The Community Water Solutions’ Second Annual Benefit was a huge success! Thanks to the support of our amazing event committee (Sarah, Mike, Sarah, Nick, Christine, Vanessa, and Marc), generous event sponsors, Foley Hoag, Goodwin Proctor & Wolf Greenfield, and, of course, everyone who attended the Benefit, we were able to raise a total of $21,791 – exceeding our goal of $20,000 and more than doubling the amount raised at last year’s event!

The night ran as smoothly as possible. The ambiance of the W Hotel combined with the music provided by jazz guitarist, Scott Free, resulted in a beautiful evening that was enjoyed by all! April Obey from April K Photography generously donated her time and talent by setting up a photobooth where attendees took picture with the CWS blue safe storage containers. Check out the photos below!

The night also included a celebration of the launch of our new website! Thanks to the talent and enthusiasm of the Cloud Construct Team— specifically Rebecca, Arra & Kate – we are so excited and proud to introduce our new site!

Cheers to our event sponsors, event committee, beverage sponsors and all who could join us in the evening! We cannot wait for next year!

cofounders kiernans finalpic teamcws CloudConstruct