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Group of CU Employees, Members Help Bring Fresh Water to Villages

10/09/2018 09:24 pm


CROSS ROADS, TexasâA group of employees and members from LiFE FCU organized a trip to the Dominican Republic where over five days they helped provide clean drinking water for three villages.

The credit union said the effort was part of its âmission of living in fulfillment every day,â and that it was âinspired by traditional church-sponsored mission trips. While in the Dominican Republic, the LiFE FCU crew installed two LifeStraw filters that produce enough clean drinking water for 400 people. In addition, the team also outfitted 72 village residents with reading glasses donated by a business member of the credit union, reported LiFE FCU, an acronym for Living in Fulfillment Everyday.

Impacting Lives

âMore exciting than the tangibles were the unanticipated ways our group was able to impact the lives of the villagers,â said Deke Alexander, who led the first LiFE FCU-sponsored mission trip in 2017 and is organizing Impact LiFEâs first mission for October 2018. âAs we moved about the people and the environment over those five days, we discovered other, absolutely surprising, ways we could help.â

Alexander, who will serve as president of Impact LiFE, a 501(c)3 the CU is forming, said the âkey to giving is putting yourself, physically, in the space you know people need help and being open to the ideas that naturally develop.â

According to the $24-million credit union, Impact LiFE is a not-for-profit that will mobilize local credit union people to do good around the globe using âGenerosity Teams,â which are made up of people with what Alexander calls âcharacter, competence and connections.â The credit unions said the teams will be developed and trained to help people in some of the most remote areas of the world.

The newly formed organizationâs first trip will take a Generosity Team of 12 into three villages in the Dominican Republic Oct. 17 â 21, 2018. There, a reported 580,000 people lack access to âat least basicâ water. Alexander says Impact LiFE hopes to make trips at least annually, the credit union said.

Plans for Expansion

Impact LiFE said its initial focus will be on helping villages in developing countries gain access to clean drinking water. According to WaterAid, one in nine people on Earth don't have clean water close to home, the credit union noted.

Alexander hopes to expand on the Impact LiFE crewâs water filter installation capabilities by eventually adding specialized expertise on the installation of groundwater wells and water filtration systems that can support greater volumes of clean water. âThe LifeStraws we have installed have been life changing, no doubt,â said Alexander. âBut they can only support so many villagers per day. The need is greater. So we will be searching for partners with the expertise and willingness to advise Impact LiFE through a more impactful mission.â Section: Standard
Word Count: 660
Copyright Holder: CUToday.info
Copyright Year: 2018
Is Based On:
URL: http://www.cutoday.info/THE-globe/Group-of-CU-Employees-Members-Help-Bring-Fresh-Water-to-Villages