By DENISE MOE
For The Reporter
After raising $15,000 at its last 4:30 Meetup, Synergize is back for more impact.
At the next 4:30 Meetup on May 25, the unconventional professional group will raise funds for Fountains of Hope International (FoH). The money from the event will fund water purification systems that will be installed during FoH’s trip to Zimbabwe in September. Synergize has partnered with FoH for the trip, where they’ll install two to three water purifiers at schools in rural areas of the country.
FoH was established in 2009 when Bill Farrar, an aviation maintenance technician, was laid off from United Airlines as a result of 9/11. Inspired by his experience installing water filters as part of relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina, Farrar took the opportunity to start FoH with a goal to provide safe water to the millions of people without it worldwide.
Thanks to several years of work in ministry and his technical/engineering expertise, Farrar had the knowledge to act on his vision. To make sure the systems he’d be placing would be efficient and simple to operate, Farrar designed his own two-tank purification system that works by generating chlorination through electrolysis. “All you need is ¼ cup of salt, a 12-volt battery, and water,” he explained, “and you can give 500-plus people a gallon of water per day for up to 10 years.”
Conservatively, a single FoH purifier system provides 182,500 gallons of safe water per year. The systems need little maintenance beyond salt replenishment, and normally last for a decade before they need to be replaced. Farrar put them to the test on his first trip, a month-long stint in Haiti. Since then, he’s returned to Haiti 40 times. It’s one of 17 countries where FoH has installed purifiers.
“During COVID, because we couldn’t travel, we’ve tried to go deeper into the countries we could access,” Farrar said. “What we found was that in lockdown, there was no income, and a lot of kids were starving.”
As a result, FoH began providing pallets of food to communities in need and sponsoring local schoolteachers as the pandemic began to wane.
“We can get a pallet of food that feeds 7,128 kids for $250,” Farrar explained. “And for $100 per month – less than the cost of a cup of coffee per day – we can send 30 kids to school.”
The largest FoH-sponsored school, in Haiti, now has 360 students – all of them getting a completely free education.
FoH trips are almost always open to anyone, but their trip to Zimbabwe in September will be for Synergize members. The country holds a special place in Farrar’s heart; he married his wife, Kathy, on a mission trip in Zimbabwe. Both Synergize members, they travel and work together. Bill handles purifier installations, and Kathy educates teachers and children about health and hygiene. Her work helps quell the spread of diseases like typhoid and cholera.
With travel restrictions lifting, FoH is beginning to resume operations as normal. In addition to the upcoming Zimbabwe trip, they just got home from Puerto Rico and will travel to Uganda in June. Anyone is welcome to join the group on a trip, help assemble filtration systems, sponsor a class or a pallet of food, or donate by attending Synergize’s next 4:30 Meetup.
“This 4:30 Meetup, and the trip, are going to be so impactful,” said Synergize founder Arron Stanton. “Bill and Kathy have saved so many lives across so many countries. We’re blessed to support them in any way we can.”
Get tickets for the 4:30 Meetup at this link, or learn more about Fountains of Hope International and trip at fountainsofhope.org.