Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Niemeier.
Jacob, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
The idea of starting Vera Aqua Vera Vita began in 2011, while during my junior year at Purdue University in Indiana, I went on a student mission trip to Haiti one year after the devastating 2010 earthquake. At the time in school, I was in the Agricultural and Biological Engineering department working towards earning my BS in Environmental Engineering with a focus on Water Resources. The department I was in at Purdue was a unique one with a lot of focus and emphasis on engineering solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems such as poverty, the food crisis, and the global water crisis. So, needless to say, I was already being exposed at least objectively to the severity of the problems our world was facing, However, seeing it first hand with my own two eyes on that fateful mission trip to Haiti was an absolute game-changer and truly opened my eyes to the great need of those in developing countries. One story sticks with me every time I think back on that trip. During our first day in Haiti, while traveling from the airport in Port Au Prince up into the mountains where our mission trip was to take place, I was overwhelmed by the severity of poverty.
Even a year after the earthquake, the city was still mostly in ruins and most people were still living in blue UN emergency-aid tents which could be seen for as far as the eye could see. There was a woman that walked from her tent carrying a bucket to the canal that was flowing through the city and filled up her bucket with water that looked like chocolate milk, had animals defecating and walking around in it, was visibly full of trash and litter, and had people washing their clothes and dumping their waste into it. I knew that was the water her and her family were going to drink and use for cooking which I knew was going to get them all sick. Witnessing this woman and the remainder of the mission trip is what inspired me to begin to conceptualize an idea to start a Nonprofit NGO to engineer solutions to the Global Water Crisis. However, knowing that starting an International Nonprofit NGO was a big undertaking and recognizing my need to gain more business, professional, and engineering experience along with expanding my network, after graduation in 2012, I decided to take a job as a water resources engineering consultant and move to Dallas.
Between 2012 and 2017, the conceptual idea transformed into an entire business plan, and our first project literally fell into our laps through some friends of mine that had been on a mission trip to Peru. Finally, on June 13, 2017, Vera Aqua Vera Vita incorporated as a Nonprofit in the State of Texas and began in earnest our mission to bring “True Water True Life” to our less fortunate brothers and sisters in developing countries.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The road has surprisingly been very smooth, and I believe that in large part this is due to the forethought myself and our team has to put into our business plan and growth strategies. However, I will say that there has been a steep learning curve in regard to the effort and time it takes to fundraise effectively which is definitely the most critical component that has prevented us from growing as quickly as we originally hoped!
Please tell us about Vera Aqua Vera Vita.
I love it when people ask these sorts of questions because this is truly where the importance of our mission and benefits of our approach shine forth. Our mission is to “tap into the physical and spiritual nature of water to empower people and communities in developing countries to generate clean water and sanitation solutions that bring ‘True Water True Life.’”
We have three distinct programs:
1. Our W.A.S.H (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) Community Development Program from which we implement clean water and effective sanitation solutions in a 3-step process: 1.) forming strategic partnerships 2.) administering assessment surveys, and 3.) engineering comprehensive and holistic solutions. We work closely alongside the communities we serve to determine the best solution to their unique water and sanitation challenges by incorporating their input into the solutions we implement. One of the ways we do this is via our proprietary assessment surveys which help us to glean important information from the community critical to implementing effective and sustainable solutions.
2. Our Education Program from which we seek to empower the people we serve to go from simply surviving to ultimately thriving in both body and soul. We don’t just give them a hand-out but we give them a hand-up through general education related to effective water, sanitation, and hygiene management practices as well as the principles and applications of theology of the body which teaches them to view their physical and spiritual well-being as not distinct from one another but intimately connected. We, also, provide specific training for effective operations, maintenance, and management of the water and sanitation solutions that are implemented.
3. Our Missionary Program from which we not only offer volunteer mission trips but also, seek to create a missionary culture in which even our domestic supporters and followers have a sense of feeling like missionaries even if they don’t travel abroad with us on one of our project mission trips.
We are distinct from organizations that do this work in two unique ways:
1. We see the people we serve not as incapable or powerless to help themselves but simply lacking in opportunity and education. Simply put, we see the potential in each and every person we serve; we see the dignity of Christ in each one of them! Thus, we focus on empowerment and the key principles of subsidiarity (essentially delegation) and solidarity (we are in this together) which requires a greater investment of time instead of just throwing money at the problems.
2. We, also, focus on both the physical and spiritual needs of the people we serve because we believe that for people to reach their true God-given potential they must be thriving in their body and soul.
Also, another distinct feature of our organization is that we have two funding streams:
1. Project Partnership: 100% of whatever you give as a project partner will go towards our projects to help bring clean water and sanitation solutions to the people we serve!
2. Mission Partnership: Mission Partners are the backbone of our organization and our partners that believe strongly in what we are doing and support us financially to ensure we can continue doing it! Whatever you give as a Mission Partner will help us cover our operational and administrative expenses.
Finally, as an organization we are most proud of the fact that in 2018 during our first full-year of incorporation we grossed nearly $100,000 in proceeds and completed funding and construction of the 1st phase (small-scale water treatment facility) of our 1st project in Monte Castillo, Peru and began work on the 2nd phase (comprehensive infrastructure improvements) of the project in Monte Castillo.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If we had to start over, we would probably have spent more time on formalizing our fundraising strategies and attempting to more accurately project our funding.
Pricing:
- Project Partnership: Donate $50/month and become a Champion in Formation (clean water & sanitation services to 12 people per year)
- Project Partnership: Donate $100/month and become a Champion (clean water & sanitation services to 24 people per year)
- Project Partnership: Donate $200/month and become a Champion Extraordinaire (clean water & sanitation services to 48 people per year)
- Mission Partnership: Donate $25/month and become a Mission Partner in Formation (helps cover our operations and overhead expenses)
- Mission Partnership: Donate $50/month and become a Mission Partner (helps cover our operations and overhead expenses)
- Mission Partnership: Donate $100/month and become a Mission Partner Extraordinaire (helps cover our operations and overhead expenses)
Contact Info:
- Address: 709 Cambridge Drive
Richardson, TX 75080 - Website: www.givetruewater.org
- Phone: 3176706293
- Email: jniemeier@veraaquaveravita.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veraaquaveravita/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/veraaquaveravita/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/VerAquaVeraVita
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWxgGXMoVAc3GnAfWqIPWRw
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