2022 Rwenzori Climb for clean water

Dear friends and customers, I’ve been thinking lately about how our company can give back this fall and help people in need. In 2019 a friend and I did a fundraiser/climb that resulted in many villages getting fresh water that had none. These wells were installed in some of the most impoverished places in Uganda and Ethiopia. The picture above is one of the 10 that were drilled from our last fundraiser. Without a doubt many lives have been saved and vastly improved because of these wells.

Since then, I have been back to Africa for the second time and again witnessed lots of villages with no safe water to drink. I saw people digging in dry riverbeds trying to find water and people drinking directly out of polluted rivers and ponds. I feel that it is my responsibility to do what I can to continue to raise money for wells to be drilled.

My plan for this fundraiser is to work for donations by donating my time and a crew every other Saturday through most of the rest of this season. We will work for no charge, only for the donations which will be made directly to Lifewater. Our crews will be on the clock and getting paid like normal so there will be no issues with insurance if there is an injury or damage. At the end of the fundraiser I will be climbing the 4 highest peaks in the Rwenzori mountains of Uganda. The tallest peak involves a technical climb on a 60 degree glacier. It is the highest mountain in Uganda and the third highest in Africa. After the climb I will be visiting villages where we have already provided wells for or are going to after this fundraiser. If it works out to help out I will.

My goal is to continue the fundraiser from 2019 ($46,300) and to hit $100,000 total. This should be enough to drill another 10 wells at least. Please visit the Lifewater website for more details on what they do and see my fundraising page. It you would like to donate to the fundraiser feel free, if you would like some work done and donate please email me back. Thank you!

https://give.lifewater.org/fundraiser/1559707

https://lifewater.org/

Rwenzori mountains

Cottage Care

On another note, to help keep our irrigation techs busy through the winter we would like to offer another service. We used to offer a cottage care service and I discontinued the service years ago because I didn’t have time myself to do it. We have two service techs that would like year around work that are very trustworthy and I believe would be perfect for this job. The scope of work can be whatever you would like but in the past, we inspected the home for any problems, ran the sinks and toilets, shoveled and plowed snow, shoveled the roof, checked the place out when the alarm went off, etc. The pricing will be based on the home, location and what all we are doing. Our hourly rates will be much less than our normal rates. We can only offer this service from November to April. Please let us know if this service is something you would be interested in.

Fall Fertilizer

Walking around this time of the year sometimes it is very obvious which trees are nutrient deficient. Often times it is not because the nutrients are not in the soil but because they are bound up because of the PH of the soil. Part of our treatment plan is helping trees in this condition by adding sulfur to the soil around the tree if the PH is very high. We also use specific micro nutrients that the tree needs to help address the issue such as nickel, manganese and iron. It is always good to plant trees to match the PH, soil, and sunlight conditions but that doesn’t always happen. We are here to help them thrive in an environment that isn’t ideal. If you see yellowing (chlorotic) leaves like these on the left please let us know, we can help.

Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter! Have a great weekend!

Dave Firman