I’m currently reading Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s book Trust Agents.
So far, it’s a good read and I’m learning a lot from it. One concept I’m enjoying is the idea of being “one of us”. Meaning that, in order to be trusted, you have to be human and real (for lack of a better word.)
This takes me to Mike VanDervort’s recent project to collect resources from different blogs about ways to help with the earthquake disaster in Haiti. Mike will be publishing those tomorrow over at his Human Race Horses blog, so be sure to check it out.
Well, I wanted to tell you about a human resources colleague of mine and what she is doing to help Haiti. I’ve known Kristen Nevils for what seems like forever (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). We’ve sat on local SHRM boards together and have been involved in many community events. Kristen is truly “one of us”.
A couple of years ago, Kristen and her husband made local headlines by winning an Inventor’s Contest. Yep, here’s an HR pro who put her business savvy to work. Her invention is called Watersafe. The product allows people to keep an emergency supply of clean water in a bathtub. Smaller versions are available for sinks as well as larger stand-alone versions.
You can see where I’m going with this. The Watersafe product can be shipped to Haiti, opened at the airport or nearby location, filled with safe, clean water, and transported to places in need.
When the earthquake happened in Haiti, Kristen was flooded (no pun intended) with calls about how to make her product available in Haiti. So she did what any business person would do – she grabbed her accountant and reworked her numbers. She found a way to offer Watersafes, ship them to Haiti and cover her expenses.
Here’s the deal. If you purchase a 65-gallon or 55-gallon Watersafe, they will send a 5-gallon Watersafe to Haiti. If you just want to send a Watersafe to Haiti, you can do that too. Visit the Watersafe site for details here.
You can check out the testimonials page for stories from people and organizations that have used Watersafe.
I understand there are many charities out there gathering supplies and resources for Haiti. And that’s great. But I also think it’s great when I can talk about a colleague – one of us – who used her business expertise and creativity to invent a product and start a business that fills a critical need. And, who is in the position to forgo profits and offer a promotion to send her product to Haiti.
That’s cool. That’s very cool.
So I hope you’ll take a moment and check out Watersafe. Thank you for supporting the Haiti relief efforts from one of us.
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HRJEFE says
Great idea and information!
Living in So. Cal we deal with all the major disasters (fires, floods, earthquakes, oh my!) so we are always updating our emergency supplies and the storage of water is one of the bigggest challenges. Not just in the home but at work and schools so this link will be shared with everyone as we can all use these products and if we can help disater relief in Haiti too all the better!
hr bartender says
I agree. No matter where you live, it seems like we are all subject to some variety of natural distaster. Having an emergency kit in place for your home and/or business only makes sense.
Kristen Nevils says
Hi Sharlyn! Great post! Thank you for getting the word out about getting the Watersafe to Haiti! For those people who are local to the Ft. Lauderdale, the Staffing Management Association is having thier LinkUp on Feb. 2nd at 5:30 at the Seventh Street Wine Company. They will be assisting us to “Send the Watersafe to Haiti” at their meeting. Here is the link http://www.smasouthflorida.org/Event_Details.asp?fair=10010641
hr bartender says
Thanks Kristen. Glad I could help. Hopefully, you will be able to send lots of Watersafes to Haiti.