January 2011 Newsletter
Upcoming: Report from Aconcagua

Eleven climbers traveled to South America to climb Aconcagua in an effort to raise money and awareness for The last Well.  A full report of the trip is coming in next month's newsletter.  Don't miss it!

Recent Trips in 2010

Cerro Aconcagua, Argentina. 22,841 ft. December 27, 2010 - January 17, 2011.

 

Donate

As an official not-for-profit 501(c)3 corporation, donations to The Last Well are tax deductible. We can  securely accept donations online.

 

Additional Ways to Get Involved...

1. Follow us on Twitter .

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3. Encourage your friends to sign up for our eNewsletter.

 

Vision Statement

Our mission is to provide clean water to the entire nation of Liberia and preach the Message of Jesus Christ to those we serve.

We pursue this mission in order to: 

1. Challenge other Christian organizations to ultimately create a movement to provide clean water and proclaim the Gospel in other countries around the world.

2. Empower the 20s and 30s generation in America to provide the majority of the finances for this movement, as well as engaging in evangelistic activity in Liberia.

3. Show the world that this generation of American Christians is serious about living out God's purpose for the church to be the agent of change for the world, regardless of the need.

We will raise awareness and funding through a variety of campaigns, providing funding to our partner organizations, who will provide clean water solutions and preach the Gospel in Liberia. A defining fundraising campaign is our Seven Summits Awareness Campaign. A founding team of ten mountaineers has committed to climbing the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents - the Seven Summits - to accomplish the goals above.

 

 

Letter from the President

 

Click here to read a letter from the President and learn more about The Last Well.

 
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Dear Last Well Supporter,
Here is the latest update from The Last Well (TLW). This year has been an exciting and busy time for us! Thank you for your continued support.
2011 Vision for The Last Well 

 

Happy New Year!

 

This is without a doubt one of the most exciting updates I've given since The Last Well had its first successful fundraising event in the summer of 2008.   As many of you know, our mission is to provide clean water to the entire nation of Liberia and share the Gospel with everyone we serve.  As a result, nearly 100,000 Liberians have access to clean water and every community we've served has heard the Gospel! 

 

In the summer of 2008 it was estimated that 1.8 million Liberians (out of a population of nearly 4 million in-country) did not have access to clean water.  In the past 24 months, thanks to your prayerful giving, other Christian NGOs, the activities of the Liberian government, the UN, and other organizations, that number has dropped to approximately 1.4 million - a decrease of 22%!  This is no small feat. 

 

In addition to the tremendous results we've experienced, The Last Well has increased the number of Christian partner organizations in Liberia from one to three.  We have had a longstanding and productive relationship with Living Water International (LWI) since our inception and will continue to do much of our work in Liberia with LWI.  This year though, we've been blessed to develop ongoing relationships with World Hope International (WHI) and Samaritan's Purse (SP).  One of the more exciting developments in 2010 was a $250,000 dollar-for-dollar matching grant from a private donor through our relationship with WHI.  The Last Well raised $75,000 in 2010 specifically for this matching grant.  So, as of this month (January 2011), a total of $150,000 has been earmarked specifically for the drilling of wells and the presentation of the Gospel through this new partnership with WHI!  We estimate that we will reach between 25,000 and 50,000 Liberians with water and the Word in the coming months thanks to the moneys raised by all of you who faithfully contributed to TLW in 2010.  We received word just this week that World Hope has just drilled and capped five wells, providing water and the Gospel to over 5000 Liberians!

 

Add to all of this the incredibly successful inaugural Last Well Gala, as well as a successful fundraising climb of eleven young men and women up Mt. Aconcagua - one of the fabled Seven Summits - we've had our most successful and productive years yet!

 

One of the greatest challenges in our efforts to accomplish our mission has been the difficulty of reaching very small rural villages, where hundreds of thousands of Liberians live, with drilling equipment.  In these remote villages we are now providing bio-sand filters.  Each filter will provide ongoing clean water to one home.  These types of filters, we believe, will be the primary way to provide clean water to the many hard-to-reach areas of Liberia.  To date, we sent moneys sufficient to provide ten families with clean water in a remote region of Northwestern Liberia through Samaritan's Purse.  A small start, but we hope to provide hundreds of filters to these remote regions in 2011 and share the Gospel with the communities we serve.

 

Of course, we're humbled by God's work since 2008, but we see huge progress toward our mission this year in the following ways:

 

 1. In February we will launch a new version of our web site, www.thelastwell.org.  The new site has a number of new capabilities that will extend our reach online and significantly enhance our ability to share our mission around the globe.

 

 2. Our goal is to maximize the dollar-for-dollar matching grant from World Hope by sending them another $75,000 this year.  This will result in a total of $150,000 of additional moneys for our mission in Liberia.

 

 3. We're expanding our fundraising opportunities.  To do this, we will be developing a standardized process which will empower individuals and groups to raise money and awareness of The Last Well.  This process will enable people to run marathons, climb mountains, go door-to-door in their neighborhood, etc. to raise money.

 

In addition to these developments, the board of directors has voted unanimously to invite me, Todd Phillips, to become the Executive Director of The Last Well.  I've agreed to take the role on an interim basis of twelve months and I'm extremely excited at the opportunity to serve in this capacity.  The new role, effective immediately, will necessitate that I step off the board of directors while acting as Executive Director.  Bud Moeller has been voted in as Chairman of the Board, after serving faithfully as a board member for the past two years.  Please pray for Bud, me and the board of directors as we move our mission forward this year.

 

Lastly, many Last Well Supporters are aware that I will be moving to Dallas in March of this year to serve at Lake Pointe Church (www.lakepointe.org) in Rockwall, a suburb of Dallas, Texas.  Many of you have asked how this will affect The Last Well.  In short, everything that we are currently doing in the DC area will continue!  For example, we are already planning the second annual Gala for the Fall of 2011 in DC.  DC will continue to be the founding chapter of The Last Well, but my move to Dallas allows us to greatly expand our reach to another large metropolitan area.  With this new chapter, we plan to fill the open board seat with an individual from Texas so that both chapters are represented.  We are confident that the new Last Well chapter in Dallas, Texas will increase our impact tremendously and also be the first of many chapters we hope to open around the country in the coming months and years.  So, we only gain ground in this process. 

 

You may be asking, how can I get involved in 2011?  Great question!  Here are a few things to consider:

 

1. Pray for The Last Well and our partner organizations to continue to have a profound impact in Liberia.

 

2. Get involved!  We are in the process of putting together a planning committee for the 2011 Last Well DC Gala.  If you'd like to be on the team, let us know by email at todd@thelastwell.org. 

 

3. Give!  $1 will provide one Liberian with water for one year.  $100 will provide one family with a bio-sand filter.  $1000 will provide filters for ten families.  $2500 is the average cost to drill a well, which will provide between 500 and 2000 Liberians with clean water.  Above all, know that any amount you give will serve to share the Gospel with the people we serve.  Just go to www.thelastwell.org and click on "DONATE."

 

Thank you for your prayers and your support.  We are moving closer every day to a day when every Liberian has access to clean water and has been presented the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  I pray each of us will continue to engage at all level of this God-sized task!  God can do anything!

 

Your servant for His sake,

 

 

Todd Phillips

Founder and Executive Director, The Last Well

todd@thelastwell.org

 

 
"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst." John 4:13