Local resident Cole Kawana was awarded a grant totaling $7,282 for his nonprofit, Clean Water Ambassadors, at the 10th annual Kehillat Israel Tzedakah Teens Awards grantee banquet.
According to Kawana’s mother, Ellen, he founded the nonprofit back in 2014 on learning that “death from drinking unsafe drinking water is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old.” Kawana, who was 16 years old at the time, delivered water filters for women and children in the Kigali region of Rwanda as part of an investigative journalism trip to study the Rwandan genocide.
Clean Water Ambassadors seeks to donate water filters to people or groups willing to transport them to “people in need of clean drinking water.” As of early April, the nonprofit has donated 918 filters to people in 19 countries. For more information about Clean Water Ambassadors, visit cleanwaterambassadors.org.
This marks the third year Clean Water Ambassadors has won a grant from Kehillat Israel Tzedakah Teens. This year, Kawana’s organization was one of 10 other nonprofits to receive a grant.