WWIF Team: Issa, Jim (SWT), Guillermo, Denise and KurtDeerfield Beach, Florida – March 15, 2012.  Industry members at all levels show their support.

The Wishing Well International Foundation exhibited in Booth 309 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on March 8th and 9th. During the exhibition, visitors had a chance to speak with Guillermo Guzman, Founder, and Jim Bodenner, Executive Director of the Safe Water Team (SWT).  WWIF and SWT forged an agreement late last year to collaborate, with the goal of impacting more families in a shorter period of time. SWT will assist WWIF put programs together that will allow industry members to be more involved with the projects the Foundation starts. WWIF will start projects in areas where SWT has set up Hydraid distribution centers with the help of their corporate partners. “Under this agreement, we have access to infrastructure that will allow us to help families quicker,” explained Guzman.  The distribution centers are located in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Ghana and Kenya.

During the show, the Foundation received commitments from Amway and Filtrex Technologies for Platinum Sponsorships for 2012 ($2,500 each), as well as other sponsorships available at different levels, from other member companies. For additional information on corporate sponsorships, visit the website www.wishingwellintl.org

Ideas were exchanged and suggestions made to create a Committee in charge of developing aGuillermo Guzman, John Packard and Issa Al-Kharusy

manufacturer/distributor/dealer/end-user program that would allow everyone in the chain to be involved and exercise corporate social responsibility. The more people in the chain that get involved, the more people the Foundation will be able to help.

On the second day of the exhibition, Guzman and Issa Al-Kharusy presented a check in the amount of $500 to John Packard of the Water Quality Research Foundation (WQRF). “As members of the Water Quality Association, we support the efforts of the WQRF as their research could impact the bottom of the pyramid audience WWIF supports, explained Guzman.

During the show, WWIF also announced it will adopt two villages, one in Ghana and one in the Dominican Republic; each village will have a minimum of 100 families. The goal is to use existing funds to get the projects started and then reach out to people in and outside the industry for matching contributions that would allow the Foundation to double or triple the number of families benefitting from such program.

Jannet Tumminello of St. Paul Lutheran School, Delaney Hill and Guillermo GuzmanThe village in Ghana project will be in honor of St. Paul Lutheran School in Boca Raton, Florida and Delaney Hill for their leadership in promoting clean safe drinking water worldwide.

The second village in the Dominican Republic project will be the Water Quality Industry village. Industry members will be encouraged to support their village and mission trips will be organized throughout the year so the industry can be involved hands on. Committee meetings can also take place during these trips.

Details for the two above projects will be announced in upcoming days.  “We are very excited about these two programs and are very optimistic it will drive industry members to become more involved with the work of the Foundation” explains Guillermo Guzman.