Water insecurities impact 1 in 9 people across the world1. The most important impact is health, as waterborne illnesses are one of the leading causes of death in the developing world. This is a problem that CAN be solved—and Pregis is working to solve it.

We launched our partnership with Uzima, a nonprofit that supplies life-changing water filters to communities that lack access to clean water.

How do Uzima filters change lives? Not only does access to clean water improve health, but there are also other ongoing effects that aren’t always as visible. For example, time, access to education, empowerment, and being trapped in a cycle of poverty can all be traced back to fresh water—or a lack thereof. And these consequences of dirty or unsafe water disproportionately affect women and children.

In Africa alone, women spend 40 billion hours2 every year walking to retrieve fresh water for their families. This time could be better spent on getting their education or building a business to support themselves and their families. Children, meanwhile, lose 443 million days of school2 a year due to water-related illnesses. Access to clean water is life-changing.

In 2018, we donated a portion of sales from our water-blue AirSpeed HC Inspyre packaging to UZima with the ultimate goal of changing 50,000 lives thanks to UZima water filters.

We’re proud to announce we’re on track to meet that goal.  In total, 2018 donations to UZima surpasses $53,000 through HC Inspyre sales, employee donations company matching.

All told, we’re on track to meet our goal—transforming 50,000 lives through access to clean, safe water—this year. We couldn’t do it without your support.

Learn more about UZima and our partnership here.

1. World Health Organization - https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water

2. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report; Beyond Scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis (2006) - http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/HDR/2006%20Global%20HDR/HDR-2006-Beyond%20scarcity-Power-poverty-and-the-global-water-crisis.pdf