Most of us have encountered a person who has changed our life for the better. Perhaps it was a teacher,
co-worker, supervisor, coach, significant other (Mary Frances in my case), mentor, et al. I've been fortunate to have had a number of such people.
Today I am honoring a man who changed my life for the better - Bill Ashe, who turns 80 years old today. In fact, Bill has been responsible for having had a positive effect on the lives of thousands of men, women, and children. And the thing is, he would just smile and say that he was just doing the work of the Lord and serving solely as a tool.
So what's so special about Bill Ashe? He is the founder of Lifewater International (LI), the hydrophilanthropy that introduced me to water, sanitation, and hygiene and how these could improve the lives of people around the world.
From LI's WWW site:
Lifewater International has been working for three decades to provide safe water to communities around the world. William (Bill) A. Ashe founded Lifewater in the late 1970s. Beginning in the 1960s, the Ashe family took outings into Baja, Mexico, to help orphanages, camps, and churches install new water systems. The family’s water pump business was prospering in Southern California, and Bill and his wife, Lorraine, wanted to teach their children that such blessing brought with it an opportunity to give.
Surprised by the impact they were having by helping people in Mexico gain safe water, Bill began to invite other water professionals to join him on his work trips. As the outreach grew, Bill's friends began encouraging him to formalize the ministry. The Lifewater International name was established in 1977, and a board of directors was elected in 1979. Lifewater became a California non-profit corporation on April 26, 1984, and was granted tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) corporation by the IRS in February of 1986.
Lifewater's ministry has grown tremendously over the past several decades. Requests for assistance and training led the organization to expand from two people working in the back office of Bill’s pump repair business to a headquarters on the central coast of California with over fifteen full-time staff and a host of interns and office volunteers. The number of volunteer field trainers serving with Lifewater also grew from about 50 individuals to over 150.
With generous grassroots funding, committed volunteers, generous donors, and excellent in-country partner organizations, Lifewater has seen thousands of communities and almost two million lives transformed by clean, safe water, improved health, and the good news of God's love for all people. Since our founding over thirty years ago, Lifewater International continuously rejoices in our growing capacity to serve those most in need.
Bill and Lorraine not only talk the talk, they walk the walk. LI's core values reflect theirs.
Bill's establishment of LI spurred individuals to dound similar other organizations, most notably Living Water International and Lifewater Canada.
Bill was the main reason I joined LI and he was instrumental in promoting my acceptance. If I passed Bill's scrutiny, then I was okay. So I owe him a substantial debt, one he would neither admit nor collect.
I once told a Lifewater colleague that Bill was the closest person to a 'saint' that I'd ever met.
Happy birthday, Bill!
Thanks to friend John Nadolski for the pictures and the reminder that today was Bill's 80th.
"Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’" -- Matthew 25:40
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