Troy parishioners' nonprofit has helped 400K people in developing countries

TROY — They say one person can make a world of difference. If that’s true, John and Eileen Heasley are living proof — about 400,000 times over.

That’s how many people the couple, parishioners of Christ Our Light Parish in Troy, estimate they’ve helped through their 15-year-old nonprofit, A Vision for Clean Water, which works to provide sustainable drinking water to developing countries throughout the world.

The couple’s “vision” started in 2002, with a trip to Nepal to visit their son, Mark, whom John Heasley described as a “world traveler.” It was a trip that left a lasting impact.

“When John and I saw for the first time how bad the water was when we were in Nepal … we realized that we have everything,” Eileen Heasley said. “We just felt mandated to help them.”

One of the least developed nations in the world, one-third of Nepal’s population lives below the poverty line. About one in 12 children under the age of 5 dies each year from a water-borne illness in the developing nation, which is nestled between China and India in southwest Asia.

“In the third world, if a family doesn’t have clean drinking water, the father doesn’t go to work as much because he’s sick. Kids don’t go to school as much because they’re sick. It just makes life way harder,” John Heasley said. “If life is easier, it makes the whole community better.”

Upon returning home, the Heasleys — Eileen a retired educator, John a retired fire protection consultant — researched solutions until they came across a biosand water filter being studied by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

With the help of ENPHO (the Environment and Public Health Organization), a water testing lab and non-governmental organization in Kathmandu, the Heasleys arranged the funds to send a filter to an orphanage in Nepal where a friend of their son worked.

“We did that, and we got some really nice letters back from the orphanage saying that we had truly saved lives there,” John Heasley said.

The biosand filters work without electricity, so they’re more easily produced and maintained in developing countries. Essentially, the filter is a large plastic or cement casing filled with precise quantities of sand, gravel and rocks; when water is poured in, mold grows inside the filter that eats harmful bacteria.

“It’s very amazing technology,” Eileen Heasley said. “Someone patented it, but gave their patent to the world. There’s major research that this filter works, and we can count on that, so we don’t have to check every single filter.”

While not the only way to purify water — boiling also works, John Heasley pointed out — such filters are able to be replicated in places that don’t have electricity or, like Nepal, even much firewood.

“It’s made out of sand and rocks and cement, because in most third-world countries, that’s what they have,” John Heasley said. “That’s not the only filter we talk about, but it has to be very inexpensive and available.”

As word of the couple’s project spread back home, church groups and nonprofits began to approach the Heasleys, offering funding for similar projects in other countries. Soon, A Vision for Clean Water was born.

Armed with the knowledge gained after attending a training seminar through the Calgary, Alberta-based Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology, the couple soon began training others how to begin their own water projects.



“We learned that there is a lot more to doing a project than just putting in filters,” Eileen Heasley said, adding other types of water projects, such as toilets, are another focus. “Different countries have different needs. So we started to conduct yearly training sessions so that those who are trying to start a water project will understand sanitation and water and what kinds of filters are more appropriate for different kinds of water. Year after year, we started training different people.”

To date, the couple has facilitated training for 200 to 300 people from all corners of the world through annual workshops. The next one is scheduled for April 19, with those set to attend coming from as far away as Ethiopia and Sudan, as well as Engineers Without Borders.

“Those people go back to their countries and implement what they’ve learned. They learn from experts; we’re not the teachers, but we bring in trainers from all over the world,” Eileen Heasley said. “When people get our training — let’s say from Nepal — they then have people on the ground in Nepal to help implement it in developing countries.”

A Vision For Clean Water is 100 percent volunteer-based — including an eight-member board — so workshops are supported by donations and funded with the help of outside groups such as the Rotary Club of Troy. With little to no overhead and board members paying for their own travel, almost all donations go directly toward the cause.

“Basically, we’re not supplying money and we’re not supplying filters; we’re supplying the wherewithal so people can feel comfortable they’re doing it right and they’ll be successful in finishing their water project,” Eileen Heasley said, adding Christ Our Light Parish has been supportive over the years, hosting youth projects and events for World Water Day, which is March 22.

The Heasleys don’t count the work of those they’ve trained as part of the 400,000 they estimate the nonprofit has helped, and the couple continues to be personally involved in projects across the globe. For example, Eileen recently returned from Lebanon, where A Vision for Clean Water has spent months working with local Rotary clubs to provide filters for 800 Lebanese public schools.

“It’s a problem that we take for granted,” Eileen Heasley said. “Water is a major problem in their culture, especially in the Middle East, where there’s more desert. Eventually, they think people will move away from the Middle East because it’s getting hotter and hotter.”

Eileen Heasley takes inspiration from Pope Francis’ 2015 environmental encyclical, Laudato Si’, which she said has “absolutely influenced our work.”

“He’s a strong advocate for people all over the world to have clean water,” Eileen Heasley said. “We should be aware of others. We don’t just take care of the water in our neighborhood or the ocean on our side of the planet; we all have to work together for a solution for all of us.”



Far from neglecting their “own neighborhood,” the Heasleys did get involved in donating bottles of water to Flint residents during the local water crisis in 2015, but most of their work continues to be in developing countries, where clean water can make a world of difference in a community.

Recently, the couple returned to Nepal to see firsthand the results their labors.

“We had asked in Nepal whether anything was changing after years with clean drinking water. And a young girl ran up to John and said, ‘Look at my arm. I no longer have a rash I’ve had all my life, and now I’m going to be married. I never thought I could be married,’” Eileen Heasley said.

“This is a core belief for me: all people should have clean water.”

A Vision for Clean Water

To support the work of A Vision For Clean Water, or to register for the April 19-22 workshop, “Biosand Water Filters and More” at the Colombiere Center in Clarkston, visit avisionforcleanwater.org.