Categorised | Featured, National, Not for profit

Life changing concepts don’t come much simpler than Thankyou Water.

Five Australian students have broken the stereotype of the selfish “Generation Y” stigma by presenting the nation an opportunity to make a change simply by drinking a bottle of water.

Thankyou Water is a new brand of Australian bottled water using 100% of its profits to fund water projects in developing nations across Africa and South East Asia.

The Melbourne based team behind Thankyou Water are all between 18-21yrs old and have balanced their uni studies and part-time jobs to get the concept off the ground over the past eight months.

“Thankyou Water exists to bring a collision between two extremes, the world water crisis and Australia’s $600 million bottled water industry.” says Dan Flynn, 20, Founder.

After months of research, knock-backs, sleep-deprivation and convincing their parents they could pull it off, the first Thankyou Water bottles hit shelves around the country late last year.

The purchase of one bottle of Thankyou Water is enough to provide clean drinking water to one person for at least one month in the developing world.

“We’re not asking people to spend more money; we’re simply giving them a choice as to which brand they choose when they next buy a bottle of water.” Dan Flynn, 20, Founder.

The concept evolved after Thankyou Water founder Dan Flynn was impacted profoundly by watching a film clip of a boy exactly the same age in Africa and the lengths he had to go to just to obtain drinking water for his family.

After Dan’s personal revelation of just how desperate the water crisis in the developing world is and learning how much money Australians spend on bottled water he felt compelled to do something.

The first project that Thankyou Water is partnering with is through Australia for UNHCR in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda Africa. The Nakivale project aims to provide water to 5,000 refugees within the camp.

“We have strict criteria that projects must line up with to receive our support. In Nakivale, the average person is walking 4km everyday to receive just 8L of water, half UNHCR’s recommended amount. The freedom from collecting water daily will allow refugees to focus on family, health and education,” Nicolette Beets, 20, Charity Project Director.

“People have laughed at the Thankyou Water concept, often saying it was a great idea but would be impossible without spending at least $5 million in advertising, I think one of the best things about our generation is we sometimes have selective hearing when it comes to the phrase it can’t be done,” Morgan Ranieri, 19, Marketing Director.

The Thankyou Water team addressed the crowds at Melbourne’s Youth Tick March in January and have been invited to speak at various schools around Victoria already inspiring the next generation to think bigger than themselves.

Thankyou Water sources and supports projects through established charities, such as Australia for UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency), providing funding for a diverse range of water-based projects.

Thankyou Water is stocked in participating cafes and universities throughout NSW, VIC, WA, SA and QLD. For further information on Thankyou Water please visit www.thankyouwater.org

Photo: Nicolette Beets, Dan Flynn, Jarryd Burns, Morgan Ranieri & Justine Hart – the team behind Thankyou Water

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