Water1st is built upon the belief that the global water and sanitation crisis can be solved by building a community of concerned people who take simple and effective actions together. Each year, our Give Water Give Life benefit brings the Water1st community together to celebrate what has been achieved, and to chart our course for the coming year.

Our annual Water Ambassador Award highlights exceptional examples of the people and institutions that make this work possible. This year we recognize the impact the Garrison Family has had in Honduras through the Garrison Gift Foundation. And honor our super-advocate, Russ Garrison, who, at age 60, passed away unexpectedly in May 2020.

Russ and Rhonda Garrison first visited the Water 1st office back in 2013 as they were curious about the work we do. They had considerable experience with various development projects in Central America and were interested in impacting communities through safe water. At that time, Central American countries, and Honduras in particular, were struggling to attract attention from donors so their support was greatly appreciated. Our Honduras partner, COCEPRADIL, was facing difficult decisions about its future as international funding evaporated. The generosity of supporters like the Garrisons allowed Water1st to continue to invest in a partner that is doing the highest quality development work in the world. Since 2013, our support for COCEPRADIL has continued to increase; this is the magic of consistent funding. And this is the legacy the Garrison family has fostered.

We want to take this moment to honor Russ, and to express our sadness over the loss of an important member of our community. The Garrisons have been a fixture at our annual Seattle benefit, always filling a table of enthusiastic supporters. The absence of Russ reminds us how grateful we are for our community and how precious and precarious life is. The work we do together enhances all of our own lives just as much as it improves the lives of those who lack access to safe water.

Thank you, Garrison family, for your steadfast dedication to our shared cause. And a special thanks to Russ Garrison, whose lifetime of generosity endures through the legacy of his family—and through every single Honduran family whose lives have been impacted by a water project.

And finally, a few words from the Garrison family…