The summer heat in Phoenix may be uncomfortable, but it doesn’t have to be deadly for the homeless, thanks to another successful Thirst Aid water bottle drive organized by the Sundt Foundation. Approximately 140,000 water bottles were collected at Sundt’s corporate headquarters in Tempe and delivered earlier this month to St. Joseph the Worker, a nonprofit organization that aids the homeless and other disadvantaged individuals throughout the Phoenix area. Many of them suffer from thirst, heat-related illness and even death when temperatures soar in the spring and summer months – if they can’t get access to enough water.
The Sundt Foundation organized the company’s first Thirst Aid event in 2010 with the hope of collecting 1,200 water bottles. They crushed that goal by collecting 49,000 bottles, and the success has continued ever since. This year, St. Joseph the Worker decided to strengthen its commitment to making the event as environmentally friendly as possible by installing recycling containers at all distribution points to reduce the number of water bottles that are thrown away.
“Our employees did a wonderful job of collecting water bottles this year, as they always do. But we couldn’t have reached our goal without the generosity of our subcontractors, vendors and suppliers,” said Lisa White, a Foundation board member and organizer of the event. “The amount of water they donated was amazing. They are very generous and committed to making this a better place for all of us to live.”