Help us deliver clean & safe WATER Huricanne Helene
Donation protected
PLEASE NOTE: We use water testing kits and have QR codes on our IBC totes.
Volunteers hauling water!
Dear Friends,
Our Water Buffalo gets 8 miles to the gallon. Please help us pay for fuel so we can keep getting drinking water out there!!!
MOST RECENT UPDATE 11/3:
We hired Scarlett!!! Meet the newest addition to our team.
This radical woman is organized, strategic, brilliant, service oriented, and a networker. With her gentle guidance we are expanding our ability to strategize and get safe drinking water to those who need it more efficiently.
With your generous donations we have been able to provide a job to someone in Asheville.
Thank you!
UPDATE 10/29
Today we hauled 6 IBC totes today with our truck and flatbed trailer.
It took 11.5 hours.
Won't stop. Can't stop.
This would not be possible with out the support of our volunteer drivers, admin team coordinating dispatch routes..... and your generous donations!!!
This week you helped us purchase:
- IBC totes
- water pumps
- gas.... lots and lots of gasonline!
UPDATE: 10/27
Local businesses in Asheville are being charged $525 for a tote of potable water.
This is not sustainable and many restaurants and local business are already struggling!
We are concerned for the long term economic toll this could have on our community. Our economy has already been devastated and loosing local companies would mean the loss of more jobs.
please help us distribute water.
Your donations help us pay for thousands of dollars in gasoline charges.
UPDATE 10/24
We recently were lent a water buffalo truck from the Truth Is One Church. The tank holds 2,500 gallons of water which will allow us to more efficiently transport water! We are elated.
We are brainstorming how to place IBC totes strategically in neighborhoods and create a map of these stations that will offer safe, clean, tested drinking water that folks can easily access.
Stay tuned!
We are THRILLED to share a collaboration with Truth Is One Church.
TIO is a dynamic organization that does incredible work in the world- check out their Instagram account for information on the healing ceremonies they offer.
They coordinated this truck being delivered from Nashville to Asheville. Before helping us haul drinking water- this trusty Water Buffalo truck served Flush AVL- before grey water was restored folks could not flush toilets and sanitation was an emergency.
WATER UPDATE IN ASHEVILLE as of 10/18
- 75-80% of Asheville has running water again and sanitation is no longer a crisis
- this water is grey water and NOT safe to drink
We are STILL hauling water.
WATER UPDATE IN ASHEVILLE as of 10/11
- Over 150,000 residents are currently without drinking water.
- The water treatment plant that serves 80% of Asheville was destroyed during the storm.
- Those with water are under a boil water advisory, meaning water can't be consumed or used to brush teeth. It must be BOILED for safety before it is used for dishes.
- Right now, 1.8 million people affected by Hurricane Helene are facing the same advisory.
Without water sanitation is becoming a crisis.
We have 47 springs on our land with fresh clean drinking water.
We urgently need your assistance to get fresh, clean water to thousands of people who desperately need it.
Here is how we do it:
- Test the water (we no longer test daily given our water source is consistently safe- we now test weekly)
- Fill all of our 275 gallon water holding tanks
- The pump to our well takes time to fill the tanks
We have a system of volunteers with trucks and trailers. When they arrive at donation sites:
- We use a high pressure water pump to quickly transfer water from our full tanks into an empty tank on each volunteers trailer.
- Volunteers haul water to donation distribution sites.
- We place an empty water holding tank onto their parking lot.
- We then pump water from the full tank in our truck or trailer into the empty tank we leave them with.
REPEAT over and over!
Thanks to your generous donations we have been able to get water to SO many people in need.
We need your help to purchase more trailers. The need for water is higher then we are able to meet.
Thank you for your continued support.
.
.
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Early on in our initiative YOU helped us as we hauled water out gallon by gallon with an ATV.
- Because we live in a remote area it took time for the road to be repaired.
- An off-road ATV enabled us to travel overland, avoiding the damaged road.
- We had trucks lined up taking water to all the major stations for distribution to those in need.
Your donations helped us purchase:
- 2 generators
- Fuel to power the generators
- 5 gallon plastic jugs to transport water
- A down payment for an ATV with a tow option
- Diesel fuel for our tractor to excavate the landslide keeping us from the main road
- Satellite phone
Your ongoing support will make a tremendous difference in providing life-saving water to those THOUSANDS of people.
With love and gratitude,
Eleanor & Rob Lenfestey
And the entire Mandala Springs Community
For those that would prefer paypal or venmo:
Paypal:
Venmo:
Organizer
Eleanor and Rob Lenfestey and the entire Mandala Springs Family
Organizer
Barnardsville, NC