Thanks to the Lord’s faithfulness and your generosity, one million people have received clean and living water through your support of neverthirst and our work to bring hope through water.
One million people are now living lives transformed because of the generosity and steadfastness of our donors who partner with us in the work God is doing in unreached people groups across the world!
And the best news isn’t even the first million…
We are confident that together we can serve the next million people with clean and living water within the next 4 years.
Join two of our founders and CEO in looking back at the stories of impact we’ve seen over the last 14 years and celebrating how God has shaped neverthirst to bring hope to the nations through the support of our generous donors.
Watch a conversation with them from an Instagram Live:
The reality is, neverthirst has served more than a million. So, why celebrate now?
We believe we hit one million people served a while back. The reason we’re just now celebrating this is because we have an internal value at neverthirst to be completely transparent, so we always estimate and count low because we never want to exaggerate or inflate the numbers.
The reality is when you bring clean water to a village, more people move in and thrive for generations to come.
(See how neverthirst has earned top financial awards for transparency and ROI)
We are so thankful for every single donor. This wouldn't be possible without the faithfulness of each of you believing in bringing water to those unreached.
Because of the incredible favor on this organization and others like it, the total number of people living without access to clean water is down from 1 billion to 771 million. Significant traction is being made in this space because of your generosity!
The neverthirst story began at an unlikely time with a group of unlikely people.
“We didn’t have some great master plan—it was God doing the work through foolish attempts at trying to figure it out on our own. He sustained it every step of the way.” Forrest Walden
Founded by Forrest Walden, Spencer Sutton, and Mark Whitehead, neverthirst was started with a heart of compassion, a calling to take action, and an invitation into trust against all odds.
“It was 2008. The economy was in a free fall and there was a massive housing crisis—and God wanted us to…ask people for money? We learned a lot about obedience in that season.
{You} didn’t look to the economy to say when the right time was to launch this, but heard God saying now was the time, so you guys trusted and jumped right in, in spite of the economy and in spite of advice from other people, knowing that you had to obey and follow the Holy Spirit’s leading.” Matt Letourneau.
Neither Forrest Walden, Spencer Sutton, or Mark Whitehead had a background in ministry or fundraising, but they were businessmen with hearts soft to Jesus.
“Every time money got tight, donors would come out of the woodwork! God brought the right people to the table every time we needed it.
One time, somebody called me saying that our website wouldn’t take their donation, so I asked him how much he was trying to give. He said $25,000 and I said, ‘No wonder, you can’t give that much online!’ But of course we have improved our software now to handle all sizes of gifts.
Another time, we got a check in the mail out of nowhere for $250,000. We didn’t know the person.
It was truly the Lord fundraising and moving in the hearts of His people to provide exactly what we needed every time.”
The heart and the name behind “neverthirst” came from the story of the woman at the well.
“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.’" John 4:13-14
We use the term “clean and living water”, but it’s also “safe and lasting water”. It’s water that is free of pathogens, is not going to make you sick, and lasts over a long period of time. The water we provide means hygiene, sanitation, and a life of good health for the people in these villages.
In the early days, there were already a lot of people doing water really well, but we wanted to offer a unique approach where all of the work was filtered through local churches in the villages we were reaching.
“Just last week, we got an update from our partner in Chad that one of our pastors there baptized two people through the water program there and it made me think about the shepherd leaving the ninety-nine to find the one.
One soul rescued out of darkness into Jesus’ marvelous light is worth all of it.” Matt Letourneau
The stories of impact we get to share with you are stories of real people who have a name and are being completely and utterly transformed, experiencing hope for the first time in this life and hope for eternity—and powerful stories like these keep happening.
You are changing the lives of real people who are drinking water because you are willing to sacrifice your finances to love them and reach them. THANK YOU.
Water changes lives, families, villages, and most importantly, can be the essential element in changing eternities.
As we celebrate this milestone, we continue to believe God will only do immeasurably more. The impact of every donor's gift cannot be understated.
Here’s to the next million coming soon.
Until all are reached,
Thank you, neverthirst family.
Have further questions? Contact us here.
