NC State is home to a variety of humanitarian aid organizations, and there’s a new one that shows great promise. Just over 12 years ago, an NC State graduate named Doc Hendley founded an organization called Wine to Water, uniting his bartending skills and his passion for bringing water to impoverished countries. There are several chapters across the United States, including one here at Doc Hendley’s alma mater.

In 2014, Kelly McLendon, now a senior studying nutrition science, and Dyon Vega, now a senior studying environmental engineering, founded the NC State Wine to Water chapter. The chapter has since accomplished an impressive amount in a short span of time.

One event that generated a terrific response was last year’s Water Walk.

“We simulated what a lot of people in developing countries have to do to get their water, and it was awesome,” McLendon said. “Just hearing the conversations that evolved from that, people were really making the connection.”

McLendon and Vega were both enthusiastic about the empathy that participants developed by walking a mile with two five-gallon buckets, and are planning to expand the event this year.

“The Water Walk is something so simple that makes such a big impact,” Vega said.

In addition to the Water Walk, Wine to Water NC State sponsors a fundraiser and a service project every other month. Their upcoming plans include a barbecue fundraiser on Nov. 30 at City BBQ and a clothing drive, with a collection site in Talley Student Union, throughout the month of November. Clothing collected will go to aid the relief efforts in Haiti.

Beyond local events and projects sponsored by individual chapters, Wine to Water as a national organization has a broad spectrum of involvements. With a permanent presence in the Dominican Republic, Nepal, Cambodia, Haiti and several other countries, Wine to Water has developed into a significant force for good over the last 12 years. Part of its effectiveness is due to the emphasis on building a community and fostering relationships.

“That’s what I love about Wine to Water,” McLendon said. “They avoid that Band-Aid approach; they don’t just go and drop off a filter.”

The organization focuses a significant amount of energy on educating filter recipients on how to make, use and maintain the filters themselves, and has factories that employ local residents in some areas to provide an economic boost along with clean water.

Wine to Water also provides wonderful opportunities for those involved to spend a few days or weeks overseas working to bring clean water to new places or help assist and maintain relationships with a community that already has a well or filter system. Vega has been to the Amazon, and both Vega and McLendon were able to go to the Dominican Republic.

“We got to visit the same community three or four times,” Vega said. “It was a process. We got to know the kids. I played basketball with them. We didn’t just drop off a filter,” said Vega, who emphasized the importance of establishing trust between aid organizations and people in need.

McLendon and Vega both stated emphatically that the relationships they built and the living conditions they witnessed overseas have made a difference to how they see their own environments in the United States.

“After I came back from the Dominican Republic, I was convinced,” Vega said. “We had to take cold showers, and we were fortunate to have them — there are no showers in the Amazon — but we take that for granted every day in America.”