New Albany-based nonprofit Design Outreach hosts 2017 Give Water Gala

Written by Innovate New Albany@InnovateNA7 years ago

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Humanitarian engineering nonprofit Design Outreach is hosting its annual Give Water Gala in Columbus on Thursday, September 21st, to raise funds for world-wide water access.

Design Outreach, an Innovate New Albany resident company, was born when the company’s founders, Greg Bixler & Abe Wright, realized the majority of the world’s products are made for 90% of the world’s richest people. They wanted to use their engineering expertise to solve problems faced by the world’s poorest populations, and the first problem they tackled was water.

LifePump is their first invention, and so far it has been a success.

It is also the first innovation designed and built by a group of volunteers, including engineers, academics, lawyers, and various others. It is estimated the volunteers donated $3-4 million in time, labor, and materials to develop the fully functioning product.

What makes LifePump different?

“A lot of nonprofits send water hand pumps to villages, but many of those pumps break down on average every 6 months,” Amelia Messamore, Development Coordinator at Design Outreach, said. “The engineers on our team realized this was a huge issue. When the pumps break down, communities are left without water.”

The engineers worked to build a pump that lasts much longer and goes deeper into the ground to reach water from even the driest places in the world, with new mechanisms and hardware allowing it to last years longer without breaking.

The first LifePump was installed in Malawi in November 2013, and it is still operating without any problems. That’s 4 years of solid operation compared to the current standard operation of 6 months.

After scaling the LifePump, Design Outreach intends to expand its work to other products that solve humanitarian problems.

What to expect at the Give Water Gala

Spend the evening enjoying dinner, dessert, and drinks with other water philanthropists and hear from keynote speaker Bruce Robinson, a Design Outreach partner located in Haiti. Robinson resides in Haiti and truly understands the extent of the country’s water problem—a unique first-hand experience he will share.

“It’s the one time of the year we get all our supporters in one room together to celebrate all we’ve accomplished and share where we’ve been this past year,” Messamore said.

All money raised the night of the event will go toward clean water efforts around the world.

“The Gala is a fantastic way to get to know the heart of Design Outreach and to see how everyone working together can make a lasting difference in the world and people’s lives.”

Give Water Gala 2017 Details

Dinner, drinks, and dessert will be provided.

Time: 6-9pm
Date: Thursday, September 21st, 2017
Place: Xenos Main Auditorium – 1340 Community Park Dr. – Columbus, OH 43229
Tickets: $40

RSVP by Thursday, September 7th!

Reserve your ticket here >>

Innovate New Albany, the city’s incubator for technology startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses, features 16,000 square feet of space within the New Albany Business Park’s Signature Office Building, 8000 Walton Parkway.