With I Am Waters, One Woman Brings Hope and Hydration to the Homeless
With I Am Waters, One Woman Brings Hope and Hydration to the Homeless
Seven years ago, Elena Davis was sitting at an intersection when a homeless woman approached her car. She immediately began to rummage around for spare change. But, when she rolled down the window to hand over the coins, Elena was surprised to be met with a different request.
The woman didn’t want money. She wanted water.
Elena was floored by the realization that something so essential to human life was out of reach for many of America’s homeless population.
“The homeless woman asking for water was kind of literally [the] key that opened this lock,” Elena said. “And, I haven’t stopped since that request.”
What Elena hasn’t stopped doing is providing clean, safe drinking water to homeless populations across the country. Her Houston, Texas-based nonprofit, I Am Waters, has supplied more than 3.5 million bottles of water to its shelter partners in 14 cities and six states.
“We’re the only nonprofit in the United States serving this particular need and it’s a huge need,” Elena said.
As public water fountains teeter on the brink of extinction and less investment is made in water infrastructure, gaining access to safe drinking water is becoming an increasingly fraught process for homeless individuals. The demand for Elena’s assistance to combat that trend has been high.
