CLEVELAND, September 12, 2024 — Drink Local Drink Tap, the Cleveland-based nonprofit, is proud to recognize Tom Skerl with the 2024 Changemaker Award at the 11th Annual Giving Splash Party on November 14th, 2024. Each year, Drink Local Drink Tap selects an organization, company, or people who have gone above and beyond as supporters and stewards of clean water. Recipients of the Changemaker Award have shown an unwavering commitment to Drink Local Drink Taps’ mission and programs and continue to inspire passion for our future goals.

Thomas Skerl is a proud native Clevelander who has made Chagrin Falls his home. He’s a dedicated father of two who graduated from St. Ignatius High School and was a marketing major from Bowling Green State University. After an 18-year tenure as Vice President of Sales at Northcoast Business Systems, a leading office equipment company, he embraced his entrepreneurial spirit in 2005 by founding Pure Water Technology in Cleveland, Ohio. This innovative business focuses on providing environmentally friendly, “bottle-free” drinking water purifiers aimed at enhancing workplace hydration. His efforts have significantly impacted over 20,000 companies across major markets in the U.S., particularly in Cleveland, helping them reduce their carbon footprint while promoting the health and wellness of their workforce.

In 2015 the City of Cleveland honored Pure Water Technology with its distinguished Sustainable Cleveland Award, celebrating its role in eliminating over 25,000,000 plastic water bottles at civic events, festivals, fundraisers, and businesses, showcasing a commitment to sustainability. Pure Water Technology, now proudly rebranded as Hydrate HQ, has been recognized as a seven-time Weatherhead 100 Fastest Growing Company and a five-time Top 50 Great Place to Work in Northeast Ohio. Tom is deeply involved with various charitable organizations, including Drink Local Drink Tap and was inducted into the Cleveland JRC Softball Hall of Fame.

It brings us great pleasure to honor him with the 2024 Drink Local Drink Tap Changemaker Award. To purchase tickets (by October 23rd) or donate to Annual Giving Splash Party, visit bit.ly/AGSPDLDT

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Since 2010, Drink Local Drink Tap has worked both domestically in Northeast Ohio and internationally in Uganda to improve water equity and quality. Over 50,000 people now have access to clean water and over 17,000 people have sanitation as a result of Drink Local Drink Tap’s projects in Uganda. With the help of Cleveland-based volunteers, Drink Local Drink Tap has also removed over 16,000 pounds of trash through beach clean-ups and engaged over 24,000 young people in doing so. Our mission is to improve water equity through projects, programming, and partnerships because we believe clean water is a human right. Website: drinklocaldrinktap.org

Contact Erin Huber – erin@drinklocaldrinktap.org, Drink Local Drink Tap, Executive Director

The post NEWS | Tom Skerl To Receive 2024 Changemaker Award at 11th Annual Giving Splash Party appeared first on Drink Local Drink Tap.

Follow these four easy steps …

Water is life and everyone needs it. Many of us have enough ‘stuff’ and giving back also gives us a way to do good in the world. What better way to celebrate your special day than by making sure everyone has access to clean water and sanitation?

Steps to start a birthday fundraiser for clean water and sanitation

STEP 1: Visit our most urgent project and get inspired to help.

STEP 2: Start a personal page (here) and write a note on why you’ve decide to give back on your birthday.

OR Start a Facebook fundraiser for Drink Local Drink Tap!

STEP 3: Set a goal! Did you know that just $30 can bring clean water and sanitation to one person for life?

STEP 4: Share with friends and family! And remember, personal notes and messages go a long way!

Get social!

Use our hashtag #DigCleanWater

Why support Drink Local Drink Tap’s work?

Drink Local Drink Tap is a non-profit based in the USA and Uganda. Donations made are 100% tax deductible.

It’s easy! We’ve made it easy to donate- set up a fundraising page for your birthday to support our most urgent project in rural Uganda. You will know exactly where 100% of your funds are going.

Our Ugandan team monitors projects long-term and communities care for their projects- we have a sustainable and thoughtful approach to our work. One hundred percent of of of projects are working!

We have a long waitlist of communities and schools that have been vetted and have helped to plan their projects. Every drop counts in raising funds!

You’ll get a birthday note from the village or school as our way of saying thanks!

Need support? Contact us at info@drinklocaldrinktap.org or DM us with questions

FAQ:

Our platform for giving does not take a fee, though there is a small unavoidable processing fee through Stripe.

As soon as all funds are raised for the project, construction will begin. You will receive an email when the project has been fully funded.

DLDT’s all Uganda team works year-round building and monitoring water, hygiene and sanitation projects. We are dedicated to quality and true community ownership of projects.

Again, 100% of your funds raised will support our most urgent project linked above.

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Over this past year, they hosted their own strategic planning retreat, fundraisers, led projects, helped with research, events and led our first year-long blog series to challenge people – yes, including ourselves- to try one small change every week. These small, eco-friendly changes were encouraged by blog writing and social media posting at #Waves4Change.

I encourage you to check out any ONE of their posts from the #Waves4Change series this year in our blog and think about what you can change in the new year. Try it for a week- maybe a new habit just might stick!

Thanks to our Associate Board members for your service to our organization

and with our Board of Directors’ committees.

Learn more about our associate board by emailing Volunteer@DrinkLocalDrinktap.org

The post Gratitude for our Associate Board appeared first on Drink Local Drink Tap.

#GivingTuesday is a special day to reflect on non-profit organizations making a difference and give what you can to support their mission. At Drink Local Drink Tap, we are excited to kick off 10 days of giving sharing both accomplishments and goals with you!

Over the last 10 years, we’ve done some incredible things together, like bringing clean water to 30,000 people, like cleaning up over 10,000 pounds of trash from Lake Erie’s shores. This not only happens when you roll up your sleeves and give your time, but when you give your treasure too.

In 2020, we were all affected in different ways. At DLDT, we had to ensure we kept delivering clean water, toilets and soap in Uganda- and- education, engagement and equity work here in the United States. Though we lost almost half of our funding due to COVID-19, many of you stepped up to keep our mission moving- thank you.

On #GivingTuesday, I encourage all of us to support the non-profits we love because our work doesn’t stop. I hope you’ll consider a gift of any size on #GivingTuesday or in December to support our Annual Fund to support all of our work near and far. Need inspiration?

Learn about DLDT – watch Be the Drop! (3 min)

Watch Sara Shookman, WKYC-Channel 3 Cleveland feature Erin Huber, Executive Director and Founder of Drink Local Drink Tap November 25th, 2020 on supporting DLDT on #GivingTuesday

10 Reasons to Give

1. We improve water equity locally by serving with Greater Cleveland Water Equity Partners
2. We build long-lasting water sources with communities who walk 4 miles a day to collect water
3. We ensure students and women have safe places to go to the toilet
4. We clean our beaches
5. We offer rich educational programming to 4th-8th grade youth
6. We have a 100% success rate in building water sources/projects (not like the 20% worldwide)
7. We educate the public about our top water issues and provide ways to improve them
8. We care about women and girls having safe places to practice good hygiene
9. We prioritize quality over quantity in all of our work
10. We help people realize their potential to create change!

The post Giving Tuesday Kicks off 10 Days of Giving with Drink Local Drink Tap appeared first on Drink Local Drink Tap.

Why Take this Challenge?

Many consider the holidays the most wonderful time of the year. Our tradition of gift wrapping also helps to make the holidays the most wasteful time of the year. Wrapping paper alone counts for a significant volume of waste during the holiday season. After that paper has been torn from the gift, it heads straight to the landfill, adding pressure to an already strained waste disposal system. Consider skipping wrapping paper for gifts this year and going a more environmentally friendly route. Using re-usable gift bags, recyclable wrap, or wrapping with fabric all help mitigate the environmental quandary traditional wrapping paper poses. You could also avoid the problem of wrapping altogether and give a gift that is an experience.

How Does this Challenge Benefit Me?

Participating in this challenge limits the amount of waste we put in our landfills and incinerators. Opting to reduce, refuse, or reuse gift wrapping helps reduce gas emissions that contribute to global climate change. The best holiday gift for everyone is a cleaner, more sustainable planet.

What if I Already Do This?

Awesome – thank you for being conscientious of your impact on the health of the environment. Encourage other family members to follow your example. If you adopted environmentally friendly wrapping, consider going a step further and eliminate wrapping altogether – give the gift of an experience!

 Prep this Weekend for a More Sustainable Week

• Research alternatives for traditional wrapping paper
• Consider giving experiences as gifts
• Be patient with yourself and others – changing habits does not happen overnight

The post Week 39: #Waves4Change 2020 Sustainability Challenge: No Single Use Wrapping appeared first on Drink Local Drink Tap.

Why Take this Challenge?

While it may seem inconsequential to quickly grab a disposable cup, the cumulative effect of doing so day in and day out takes a tool on the environment. Production of disposable coffee cups requires the consumption of natural resources, including trees, water, and energy (which is likely heavily reliant on fossil fuels that create C02 emissions). To compound the problem, disposable cups are rarely recyclable. While many are made of paper, most have a thin layer of plastic lining to prevent the contents from saturating the walls of the cup. This plastic layer prevents the cups from being recycled. In 2017, the EPA estimates that over 870,000 tons of disposable, plastic dishes and cups were landfilled in the United States alone.

How Does this Challenge Benefit Me?

Less consumption of natural resources, fewer CO2 emissions, and limiting what we place in landfills creates a healthier planet for you and your descendants. Plus, using your own, reusable coffee cup or mug lets you show off your personality and can save you a few cents on your Starbucks order. Further, if you’ve been a groomsman or bridesmaid in the last three years, odds are you have at least a few Yeti Products in a drawer in your house – start putting them to use!

What if I Already Do This?

That’s fantastic and thank you for doing so! Encourage family and friends to follow the same habit.

Prep this Weekend for a More Sustainable Week

• Pick up a reusable coffee mug. EarthHero.com is an eco-friendly online marketplace – check it out here!
• Encourage family and friends to change their habits too

The post Week 40: #Waves4Change 2020 Sustainability Challenge: Bring Your Own Cup/Thermos to Get Coffee appeared first on Drink Local Drink Tap.

Why Take this Challenge?

The holidays are a wonderful time for connection with family and friends. Showing your affection for others is a powerful expression but must it be in the form of a physical gift? Let’s face it – trying to read the tea leaves to guess what a friend or family member might want for Christmas is stressful, challenging, and often leads to cluttered closets. How often did you bury the sweater your grandma knitted you in the bottom of your dresser as a kid? Extrapolate the waste created by unwanted gifts on a global scale. The current world population is approximately 7.6 billion people. If ten percent of the world’s population received an unwanted gift that weighed just one pound, that leads to 760 million pounds of unwanted stuff . Unless you’re extremely nostalgic, eventually, the fish magnets your Uncle Doug bought while vacationing in Muncie, Indiana are probably going to end up in the trash. Filling our landfills with unwanted junk from the holidays only stresses our waste disposal system and pollutes the environment. Rather than rolling the dice on a physical gift, try gifting an experience instead. Take a friend to a concert. Book a brewery tour for your siblings. Even donating to a meaningful cause (if I may, I suggest this organization) could provide a better, more meaningful connection with whomever you are giving a gift.

How Does this Challenge Benefit Me?

Participating in this challenge enables you to hold more environmentally friendly holiday celebrations. It also provides a way to spend more quality time with the people you care about and shows that you really know what those people’s interests are. It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life – the gift of time with people you love is precious.

What if I Already Do This?

Terrific! Keep giving the gift of experiences and encourage your family members to do the same. If someone asks what you want for the holidays, rather than responding with “I don’t know”, ask for an experience instead of a physical gift.

Prep this Weekend for a More Sustainable Week

• Brainstorm different experiences that would be meaningful for your family and friends
• Encourage others to gift experiences
• Be kind and patient to yourself and others. Shifting paradigms is not an easy process

The post Week 38: #Waves4Change 2020 Sustainability Challenge: Give a Gift that’s an Experience, Not a Thing appeared first on Drink Local Drink Tap.

November 19th is World Toilet Day. A day started by the United Nations to raise awareness about global sanitation and hygiene issues. This year, we are exploring sustainable sanitation and climate change. How do they interact? How can toilets help fight climate change?

To improve this crisis, Drink Local Drink Tap builds water, hygiene and sanitation facilities in Uganda. Our sanitation facilities are sustainable, safe, gender friendly, adapted for special physical needs, small children and teachers. Every single latrine we build is built with the intention to reflect specific community needs and protect the environment.

“So far, we have helped 15,000 people access safe, sustainable sanitation. The change is almost immediate, especially when you start to see happy little girls at school or in the village no longer fearing their safety when they ‘go’ to the toilet. I can’t imagine my little girl going in some of the places I’ve seen.” – Kizito Johnson, DLDT Director of Works

 Toilet at an internally displaced persons camp in Central Uganda. (2015 DLDT)

Sustainable sanitation means that waste is safely captured in a dignified setting. While DLDT focuses on this step, we look forward to celebrating utilities, innovators, cities and countries who are addressing the safe reuse of this human waste that can safely be turned into energy! Doing this captures greenhouse gases, saves water and can support agriculture!

Drink Local Drink Tap will be building latrines (like the one pictured below) for 500 as soon as we raise the funds!

To support safe latrines in Uganda, please make a donation to Mbaale Primary School and community’s URGENT latrine project here.

The post World Toilet Day – Sustainable Sanitation and Climate Change appeared first on Drink Local Drink Tap.

Why Take this Challenge?

Litter is a troubling problem. We can find it virtually anywhere – our cities, our suburbs, even our national parks. It is sickening to think that our only way to escape it’s seeming omnipresence is by penetrating to the deepest parts of the world’s uninhabited places. Even then, we may not find reprieve. Is litter a natural consequence of our existence? One would hope not, but evidence to the contrary is thin. More optimistically, we can very easily curb the spread of litter ourselves by simply picking up trash we see that has been carelessly discarded. Imagine if everyone picked up a few pieces of litter each time she left her home? The world would be a considerably cleaner place. Plogging is a uniquely simple way to improve yourself and your community: picking up litter while you jog. Not a jogger? No problem – take a walk and pick up what trash you see as you go. Our planet’s pollution problem may seem overwhelming and unsolvable. If you want to improve the world, sometimes you have to start with your own small corner of it. Many people striving to do what they can to curb the tide of the pollution problem can lead to meaningful change.

How Does this Challenge Benefit Me?

No one wants to live in filth (Oscar the Grouch excluded). Doing what you can to keep your home and neighborhood clean naturally benefits you and your neighbors. Combining exercise with environmental consciousness is a slam-dunk for self and community improvement.

What if I Already Do This?

Thank you for being a wonderful person and keep doing it. Share this habit with friends and family and encourage them to get involved too. The digital age in which we live lends itself to connecting with people near and far. Toot your own horn and let family and friends know how fit you are and how much you love the planet.

Prep this Weekend for a More Sustainable Week

• Organize a plogging event with family and friends or share your story on social media
• Challenge friends and family to see who can collect the most trash during a run or walk
• Ensure you have the supplies needed to keep participants safe from COVID-19 (gloves, hand sanitizer) and follow local guidelines for limits on social gatherings

The post Week 37: #Waves4Change 2020 Sustainability Challenge: Plogging appeared first on Drink Local Drink Tap.

Stormwater (rain and snow) flushes material into storm drains, including trash, dirt, oil and other pollutants. Some stormwater goes to water treatment facilities and is treated and released into Lake Erie, clean and clear. However, when rains are heavy sewers can overflow, sending untreated water – including raw sewage and other pollutants – directly into the lake. An increase in the frequency of storms, as predicted for northeast Ohio in the future, means there will be more stormwater to manage.

Stormwater management practices are used to delay, capture, store, treat, or infiltrate stormwater runoff. Residents and businesses are encouraged to consider a variety of strategies to help sustain a dependable supply of clean, safe drinking water. Examples include the use of water efficient technologies (low flow toilets, waterless urinals, etc.), rain barrels, and green cleaning products.

How Does This Challenge Benefit Me?

Green space improves the quality of place and quality of life for its residents, a main driver in economic prosperity and a crucial factor in retaining and attracting residents to a city plagued with depopulation. In addition, stewardship of green spaces, such as parks and natural areas,
enhance the city’s potential to attract tourism and to increase its profile as a green-tourist destination. Green space also lowers the city’s footprint, improves air quality, preserves natural habitat and biodiversity, as well as strengthens the resilience of neighborhoods and increases
property values.

What If I Already Do This?

Get into other ways of water sustainability mentioned above, from low flow toilets through waterless urinals to turning the faucet off in the house when it is not absolutely necessary.

The post Week 36: #Waves4Change 2020 Sustainability Challenge: Use Rain Barrels to Help with Water Sustainability appeared first on Drink Local Drink Tap.