Today we’d like to introduce you to Katherine, Isabelle, and Trinity Adams.
Paper For Water started November 3rd, 2011. Katherine and Isabelle hosted their first Origami Show at Starbucks at Mockingbird in Abrams. Their goal was to raise $500 towards a $9,200 deepwater well in Ethiopia. The first night they sold out and at the end of two months, they had raised over $10,000. This led to the second well which they also overfunded and that led to the third well and then a 501(c)3.
In the last 7 years, Isabelle, Katherine, and Trinity Adams with the help of hundreds of volunteers and thousands of donors have raised over $1.5M, funded over 160 water projects in 15 countries and fundamentally changed the lives of over 48,000 people around the world. Paper For Water focuses on ensuring that kids especially girls get to go to school because they’re not hauling water up to 7 miles a day in the dry season. Paper For Water also ensures that the water that is obtained is clean and doesn’t contribute to infant mortality rates secondary to water-borne diseases.
Has it been a smooth road?
There are struggles on a daily basis but the way in which they are solved reminds us that we are doing what we should be doing. In August 2012 after raising $19,000, Isabelle set a goal of raising $50,000 to fund 10 wells in India before the end of 2012. Her parents tried to convince her that this goal was unachievable given the number of hours left in 2012 but Isabelle persevered and more and more volunteers showed up and by the end of 2012, Paper For Water had actually raised $119,000.
Paper For Water traveled to India in 2013 and got to see a number of their water projects located in school and orphanages. It was amazing to see girls getting to go to school instead of hauling water all day. It was a blessing to see mothers holding healthy infants not sick with water-borne diseases.
In 2017 Paper For Water spent 8 months traveling around the world. They visited wells in Peru, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. There were daily challenges on that trip that made the team much stronger. 2017 also represented our first major partnership with a retailer. We delivered thousands of ornaments to Neiman Marcus and had one of the famous Christmas Catalogue gifts, a $50,000 Christmas tree decorated with one of a kind Paper For Water ornaments.
In the first quarter of 2018, Paper For Water took on the challenge of installing 4,000 huge origami butterflies above the Galleria Ice Skating Rink. It has taken hundreds of hours to fold all the butterflies and the engineering work going into designing and building the cabling system to suspend them is amazing. The installation will weigh over 6,000 pounds and will open Mother’s Day weekend.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Paper For Water – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Paper For Water makes handcrafted, intricate origami ornaments and exchanges them for donations to help build water projects in developing countries. We are most proud of the fact that we have fundamentally changed the lives of over 48,000 people around the world by providing them with clean water and the Word. The fact that the co-CEO’s of Paper For Water is currently 12 and 14 and have been running the company since they were 5 and 8 is what sets us apart from most companies.
Isabelle and Katherine are passionate about eradicating the World Water Crisis and recently their sister Trinity age 8 has joined them in this pursuit. The girls have spoken as the kick off speakers at a UNWomen’s meeting in New York City. They have presented before 8,000 kids at WE Day and featured on Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel as well as numerous TV News shows and magazine and online journals.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
We love the fact that Dallas is one of the most generous cities in the nation. It is easy to find people who want to make the world a better place. We love how supportive the business community has been to Paper For Water. So many business leaders like Ebby Halliday, Garrett Boone, Trevor Reese Jones, Jill Elliott have given of their time to mentor and help the girls.
Probably the thing we like least about Dallas is the hot summers.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.paperforwater.org
- Phone: 469-892-8373
- Email: info@paperforwater.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/paperforwater
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/paperforwater
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/paperforwater
- Other: www.youtube.com/c/paperforwater
Image Credit:
Ken Adams and Deborah Adams
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