Harmonies of Taylor Swift’s “Trouble” wafted from Hunt Library’s auditorium Friday night as a cappella groups and a cappella lovers alike came together in support of clean water worldwide.
Friday, March 22 was World Water Day, a day in which the world observes the global water crisis, educating others on what can be done to help. N.C. State’s Center for Student Leadership Ethics and Public Service decided to hold their first ever Wine to Water benefit in which all proceeds would go to the Wine to Water organization, a non-profit created by N.C. State alum Doc Hendley.
“We wanted to give back to Doc and to Wine to Water,” said Mandy Scott, a junior in business administration and director of the Science Leadership Team’s community outreach. “One of the many things Wine to Water does to raise money is hold wine parties. With everyone on campus not being of drinking age, we decided to do something a little different and hold a concert.”
Doc Hendley, a 2004 N.C. State graduate, started Wine to Water while working as a bartender and nightclub DJ in Raleigh. The organization focuses on providing clean water to disadvantaged people around the world.
Josh Elliot, Wine to Water’s campus coordinator, spoke Friday evening about the organization’s desire to strengthen their connection to students and their universities.
“We’re really proud that N.C. State wanted to represent us, especially on World Water Day,” Elliot said. “State is Doc’s Alma mater and I, personally, got involved with Wine to Water through my campus when I was in school.”
Since Wine to Water’s start in 2004, the organization has been able to bring clean water to more than 160,000 people worldwide.
Wanting to keep with the idea of community support, Scott decided to extend the a cappella invitation to the other harmonizers down the road.
“We really decided to create a community effort by inviting a cappella teams from Duke, Chapel Hill and of course here at N.C. State,” Scott said. “We received an overwhelming amount of interest from the groups and while we never intended on having seven performances, we didn’t want to turn anyone away that wanted to give their time.”
The benefit’s lineup included Ladies in Red, Acappology, Grains of Time and Wolfgang from N.C. State and Tarheel Voices and UNC Achordants from UNC as well as the Duke Pitchforks from Durham.
According to Alexander Parker, a sophomore in Spanish education and international studies and director of the Science Leadership Team’s global awareness, the benefit was the SLT’s first go at a group project.
“We’ve never done something like this before,” Parker said. “We’ve all done events on our own focusing on our individual subject matter, but this was a chance for us to work together. We took a week to impact the community in a larger way than we have before.”
According to Scott and Parker, marrying their week with Wine to Water was a no-brainer.
“Their concept is amazing and it just made sense for us to partner with them, especially on World Water Day,” Scott said. “We were able to raise $1,138.27 with all of the proceeds going directly to Wine to Water.”
Elliot, addressing the crowd, implored students to discover the opportunities available through Wine to Water.
“We have college programs now that we’re started,” Elliot said. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with about 10 different universities … universities like N.C. State that are helping the clean water mission. It’s been a blessing to bring the organization to students and have that become an arm for the organization. It’s a way to give back.”
Scott stressed that, looking past the singing and the money raised, it’s the effort to raise awareness that drove the SLT’s desire to hold a benefit.
“Those efforts site to raise awareness and create unity within humanity,” Scott said. “Everyone should have clean drinking water, that’s a fundamental right.”
