I appreciate working with a team of people that are committed, diligent but effective scouts, too. Looking and listening are the first steps to learning but ARTICULATING information that we learn in a way an organization can make effective use of daily is really tough. Lots of us live that in business and even in our families.

In a NEW program EDGE launched with Waterfront Park and Louisville Water Company, certain events have been targeted for selling refillable wate bottles in order to get people seroius about not poluting the world with plastic bottles especially when Louisville has the best water in the country. Lacey Guthrie from EDGE has been on the front lines with these events and literally discussed EDGE with thousands of people hoping she can get someone to take a next step and want to look and listen and learn how to transform lives with safe, clean water. It's tough when refilling a water bottle only takes a few seconds.

Below is a rare glimpse into the inner office secret files of the EDGE OUTREACH International office and Lacey's memo to the EDGE clan after discovering a new strategy to communicate EDGE's perspective of what is in front of us, flowing through us and keeps us alive every day - water.

Lacey says...Last night while giving out waterbottles at Waterfront Wednesday, I learned something about talking to strangers. When someone asked me "What's EDGE?" I tried saying something new right off the bat to communicate what's really special about us:

"We train people in developing countries to kill disease in their water supply and repair broken hand pumps that sit on top of safe water sources."

That sentence, though it doesn't communicate everything we do (training people here, disaster relief work, health and hygiene, etc.), worked VERY well in last night's environment. When people hear that we're a water NGO, doubts come up. Is the solution sustainable? Is this just a bandaid for a problem that can't be solved by a bunch of white people flying around the world with scary technology? And though our solutions are sustainable, and we work closely with the communities we serve, and we use technology that's simple and intuitive, that's all lost if we're greeting people with vague phrases about saving the world.

The most common response to my approach was "so wait, you actually train people who live in the country?" followed with more questions about our work. People are excited about CREWS in Costa Rica and Pastor Brisnault driving all over Haiti taking care of purifiers and finding new installation sites. This idea, that an NGO is training people in-country to solve their own water issues, is surprising. Just saying the words "we train people in developing countries to kill disease" out loud is emotional. It's huge, it's important, it's unique, and it works. And dang, we actually do it!

My proposal is to make this the focus of our image as an organization in a way that can be understood by anyone, anytime. At first blush, our website/literature/media presence doesn't scream "we're training people in the developing world to do this themselves". It's certainly talked about, but it's not right in the face of the audience. "Empowering ordinary people to save lives with clean, safe water" makes sense to us, but if someone who's never met us sees that sentence, I don't think they would know what to take away from it.

Love you guys, thanks for reading.

________

I think she's durn smart. From the Hogg's Pen.