Cause Champions: Clean Water Episode 1

April Cushman: So we have three kids, they are 10, 8, and 4.  We have two daughters and a son. We’ve seen as a family, we’ve watched commercials together and seen photographs of people who don’t have water and don’t have food or don’t have homes. And we have come across homeless people throughout the city and those are conversations we were already having. And this was such a beautiful piece, they saw their last name on this plaque, and they were like, wait, what did, what’s happening?

Trey Cushman: I went to a place called Iron Tribe, exercising, working out, and there was an event they did… a “workout for water” and I was invited to it, and I said, Oh, that’s interesting. What is what is that? And so, I ended up going to this event and all of the proceeds went to a nonprofit called Neverthirst.

Fast forward about two months. I get an email from Brandon at Neverthirst. It just looks kind of like spam at first. And then I start going through and I see images of kids and even orphans and clean water and I start reading and then it’s personalized and it says, thank you Trey, for your generous donation to give our village clean water. And so, I start scrolling down and I kind of start getting a tear in my eye because it’s so personal. And then I see a photo of families gathered around this this well, and there’s water just flowing out. And I’ve seen these kinds of images before. A lot. But then you zoom in and there’s a photo and there’s a plaque on it that says, thanks to the Cushman family, we’re able to have clean water. And it says Neverthirst.

And so, and then I scroll down, scroll down a little bit more in the email, and there is a sign— they’re literally holding a sign that says, Thank you, Cushman Family. And I mean, I just lost it. And so, our kids looked at the email and they started seeing these images in these pictures and they see kids like themselves. And that that was my first introduction to Neverthirst. And then I thought, what is this organization? That would go to this length for this relatively small amount that I gave… the impact that I’m seeing firsthand, and not only the impact that our money impacted these families far, far away, but that also it impacts us in such a personal way. Right?

This is a payout I never anticipated or expected, you know?

Trey Cushman: Even in our city, our children see homeless people and we talk about it a lot. So, it’s a conversation that we have. And they’re sweet because they started our girls started years ago where they would put these Ziploc bags and kind of stuff from around the house, you know, raisins and…

April Cushman: Band-Aids and protein bars. And we would go to Target and…

Trey Cushman: And bottled water…

April Cushman: And then when Trey came across Neverthirst and this email came through and we were like, the girls were just like, Wait, people just don’t have water? How much will it…?

And they just were running to their rooms and getting their pennies and getting their dollars and getting their treasures and saying, what can we give them? What can we give to them daddy? And what can we, you know, how do we do this again?

Trey Cushman: And so, what Neverthirst has brought to us is this remote nature of need that we can actually do something. We can affect that change, not through handing them bags of resources, but through stewarding our resources through Neverthirst.

How can we serve our children and model generosity for them in a way that will affect not only them, but their kids and their kids and their kids. How can we affect a generation that we’ve maybe never met before, and we can’t do that on our own? It’s really Jesus. We want them to see that heart and know that heart. And we see it in them already.

April Cushman: It’s like, no, let’s bring living water to the whole earth. And I think that is a beautiful thing. Many times, just our mindset could be like, oh, that that won’t happen in our generation. That won’t happen in our lifetime. What if it could? What if everyone who gets to watch this would, it would stir something up and then that would say, you know, I’ve had to tell everybody about this and I want to give to organizations like Neverthirst who are truly bringing that and making that impact, who are telling are telling stories that aren’t being heard. I mean, I’m getting chills right now thinking about it. It’s like. Let’s go, let’s go, let’s bring clean water to everyone and change the world. Right.

Trey Cushman: As I think about generational giving for my children, it all starts with preserving our generation to be able to carry on that the next generation. And that’s what clean water is. It’s giving hope through faith to be able to actually be able to make it to the next generation and the next generation.

That’s what’s impactful with us as a family is that’s important to us. There’s nothing more important than that to include that conversation in with our family, our girls, our son.

April Cushman: Yeah. For a ten- and eight-year-old and even our four-year-old son to be walking around and say, “oh, it looks they might need this” is just a beautiful thing to witness. I mean that’s what when we know the Lord, he unveils our eyes to see his Kingdom and his work. And it’s like once you see that, you can’t unsee it. And so, I know that will impact our grandchildren and our great grandchildren.

April Cushman: The Signatry exists… they want to empower donors to write the last check for the last need and bring the gospel to the last person on earth. I mean, to think that everyone could hear about Jesus. And so how they’ve kind of partnered with Neverthirst is Neverthirst is bringing one of those needs to people and lord willing to the last person that would need it.

And so, they’re aligned on their mission. And it’s just…Neverthirst carries this water piece of that need, which is so great. It’s 800 million people without clean water, without access to clean water.

Trey Cushman: And there’s no greater need, really.

April Cushman: That’s life right there.

Trey Cushman: To be able to solve that, to be a part of that as a donor is incredible.

To be able to say there’s nothing more important than Jesus, and then to steward what he’s given us. Because it’s not us, it’s not our resources. It’s His. It’s just getting that in the hands of people, of his people as well, to reach the unreached.