Homecoming keynote speaker Doc Hendley said he never imagined he would be back on campus to share his story of how he started ‘Wine to Water’.
But the 2004 alumnus was back in Talley Student Center Wednesday night, discussing the idea he conceived in his final semester as a way to create clean water systems in some of most impoverished countries in the world.
And today, at noon, he’ll be back on the Brickyard just as he was five years ago. Except he’ll be speaking at a rally in his honor as one of ten nationally honored “heroes” for CNN’s Hero of the Year award.
“It’s a different feeling coming back. It’s absolutely amazing and I am honored. I used to be another face, another name no one knew,” Hendley said. “It’s important for people to know that there is nothing special about me- middle of the row, just average. Water is just my passion.”
Hendley traveled a lot in his early life and decided to return to college in 2004 where he bartended while finishing school with a public and interpersonal communications degree.
Hendley began piecing together an idea just before he graduated. He said he was floored to discover that unclean water is the number one killer among children in the world.
Hendley said he combined the knowledge he had from bartending with his passion of creating clean water in impoverished countries and held a wine tasting to raise money in hopes of alleviating some of the suffering countries experienced because of the death rate due to unclean water.
After his first wine tasting, he decided to give the money to Samaritan’s Purse, since they had a water program of their own and he wanted to make sure an impact was made.
According to Hendley, he told the director of Samaritan’s Purse that he wanted the money he raised to go directly to the clean water project, but the request turned into an informal interview, and a few months later he found himself in Darfur.
Since that trip, he has dedicated his life to providing clean water to countries that are in need of it most, which he said also tend to be countries at civil war.
After hearing his story, students, like Mackenzie Perry, a sophomore in communication, said they were inspired to make a difference.
”His story makes me want to get up and actually do something–helping others is the main goal of life,” Perry said.
Hendley relayed some devastating statistics about how bad the water crisis is in countries like Afganistan. According to him, 1,442 coalition soldiers have been killed in the war in Afghanistan while 8,500 have died because of unclean water. Hendley said, globally, 1.1 billion people lack access to clean water.
Alex Haislip, a sophomore in textiles, said the stats were shocking.
“His information was eye opening to hear about; I didn’t have any idea how bad the water crisis was,” she said.
Hendley was recently nominated as one of CNN’s Top 10 Heroes and he said needs our support and the votes of everyone.
According to Hendley, if Wine to Water won, it would shed light on the water crisis and the organization would be able to directly affect more than 6,000 people.
“I don’t care if they don’t support me or my organization, but if they support some water organization, then we have all won,” Hendley said. “It’s about these people. Children in the world that die everyday and no one knows. If half of the students gave a few minutes to vote each day, it would make a huge impact and would really put the water crisis on the map.”
Hendley said he wishes someone had told him that any person can have a huge impact on the world so long as that person has motivation.
“If you find something that motivates you that much, it doesn’t matter who you are, then you can have a huge impact on the world around you,” he said.
