So, why a well?

If you’re reading this, I’ve just announced that 100% of profits from NeuVision Co. will go to charity and you’re probably wondering how we got here. 

Let me begin by saying blogs are not my thing. So, for both your sake and my sake, let’s keep it conversational. 

I’ve always been an incredibly sensitive and emotional person. This sensitivity is less about what people say/do towards me and more about when I hear that other people are struggling. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always felt this way. Passing homeless people in Charlotte, NC while walking to a sports game with my family was one of the first times that I remember feeling this overwhelming sadness and longing to help. Over time, this sensitivity and urge began to grow. Around the time I was in middle school, my dad became affiliated with a charity based in Charlotte called RunningWorks. RunningWorks is a sport for change charity with the mission statement to “[assist] individuals and families experiencing homelessness and poverty with their goals for physical, emotional and social well-being.” Over the years I was able to witness the impact this charity had in the lives of the people they helped. Seeing people go from homeless, addicted to drugs, and hopeless to obtaining a stable job, getting their own place, and starting a family was inspiring to say the least. 

Fast forward to now and I’ve been so unbelievably blessed to have built a community of thousands and thousands of passionate, like-minded individuals. 

When I decided to launch my own clothing brand, I wanted to build it on the principles that I live by - pursuing passion, escaping the comfort zone, and making a positive impact on the world. I knew there was no better way to do this than to donate 100% of the profits from the initial launch.

And then, I really started thinking. I wanted to bring everyone in the community together around one cause where we could make a tangible impact. During the production of an LG Campaign I was involved with, I became affiliated with one of the producers, Michael Kortlander, who introduced to me the idea of water based projects. He had done a lot of mission work based in Uganda and recommended that I look into it.

A few months later I landed on the idea of funding the construction of a well. It was within reach if the launch was successful, and it had a direct tangible impact. Criteria met. So now what? Well, I didn’t really know. I had no idea of how this would come to fruition, the company/charity I would go through, what region of the world this project would take place, and when it could even realistically happen. It was something I kind of pushed off and assumed I would figure it out later (I’m a chronic procrastinator sometimes haha). 

In late August I came back from school to visit my close friend Matt Winesette for his 21st birthday. He was having a few people over at his house for the night. One of our friends Connor Simons was also visiting. After catching up with Connor for a little bit he made a comment about the NeuVision shirt I was wearing and asked when I was planning to launch the company. I told him that I was hoping to be live within the next few months and mentioned that if he wanted to get one, the first drop would be the best time because it was all for charity. Connor then proceeded to ask what charity I was planning on partnering with. Keep in mind that at this point, the only people I had told about the idea for the well were my family and my best friend Ariana (literally no one else knew about my specific plan). A bit hesitant, I told him, “Well, I’m not sure of the specific charity yet but I’m planning to fund the construction of a well to hopefully give an entire community clean water.” 

I don’t remember exactly what he replied but after a brief pause he said something along the lines of “Dude, no way. My uncle runs a charity called GlobalH20 that builds wells for communities all across Uganda.” *Insert immediate stomach drop.* 

As someone who dropped out of business school I’m not even going to try to calculate the percentage chance of this happening the way that it did, but I know that it’s small enough to not be a coincidence. For me it was a direct confirmation that this was what needed to be done.

Shortly after, I connected with Connor’s Uncle Jamie to talk about the process and logistics of the project. His excitement about my interest in the project was further confirmation for me that this was the right thing to do. 

Fast forward to now. The site is live and we are on our way to achieving this goal together. If you’ve read this far I’ll give you two statistics that made me truly realize the impact that we can collectively have.

1. One well built will give 1,500 - 2,000 people access to clean water for 20 years.
2. Every sweatshirt sold will give one person clean water for the rest of their life.

If those aren’t some of the coolest freaking things you’ve read all day then you probably have a far more interesting life than I do.

Much love, Josh

To check out GlobalH20 visit https://globalh2o.org/