Filters of hope: Former MBJH teacher hopes to deliver clean water to developing countries

Five years ago, Louise Price’s life changed forever. On a trip to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Price said she saw things that can never be unseen. 

“It was the most life-changing trip I’ve ever been on,” she said. 

The trip, which she took the summer before she began teaching Spanish at Mountain Brook Junior High, opened her eyes to the everyday struggles of millions of children and families around the world. 

“There was low-income housing for as far as the eye could see,” said Price. “And by low-income, I mean, makeshift homes made with scrap materials and no running water. Children play in sewage and have to walk daily to collect dirty water from wherever they can.”

Price was there on a mission trip, traveling with a team that would eventually become Filter of Hope, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide clean drinking water to developing countries around the world. Based in Tuscaloosa, the organization is the brainchild of Bart Smelley. 

On his own mission trip years ago, Smelley and the group he was traveling with quickly realized that the cycle of poverty in the communities they were visiting would never be broken if the people’s most basic need — clean drinking water — was unattainable. The World Health Organization reports that almost 1 billion people worldwide — 1 in 7 — lack access to safe and clean drinking water. Each day, more than 3,000 children die from drinking unsafe water, according to the United Nations Development Programme, which, according to the CDC, equals to about a child dying every 30 seconds from preventable water-related disease. 

Smelley, according to the Filter of Hope website, became obsessed with finding a solution. The global statistics, combined with what he had witnessed firsthand, set the team on a quest for answers.  

After trying almost every type of water filtration method available, the team developed a technology using hollow fiber filter membranes contained within small, portable household water filters. The technology, according to Filter of Hope, has been used in kidney dialysis and wastewater treatment. The filters, which fit in the palm of a hand, do not require batteries or electricity to function and instead rely on gravity to do the work. The $40 filters remove 99.9 percent of the bacteria, protozoa and micro-organisms from contaminated water sources and render it safe to drink. The Filter of Hope kit contains all the necessary items and instructions needed to assemble a working filtration system — only a bucket is needed. 

Through the years, said Price, Filter of Hope has helped distribute filters to 40 countries around the world. Today, a stay-at-home mom raising her two young children, Price said she couldn’t stop thinking about the families she came to know all those years ago. 

“When I returned to Mountain Brook five years ago I really struggled with what I had seen,” said Price. “I asked God why there was so much excess in the world when some people didn’t have access to basic things they need to survive.”

Price said she felt the need to immerse herself in the Filter of Hope cause during her own pregnancies and nursing periods. It was during those times, she said, that she was the thirstiest she’s ever been. 

“I’d always think about the women,” she said, “how do they get through it?”

She’d also think about the children she’d met, with their distended tummies full of worms because of the dirty water.

“How do they do it?” she said, “They don’t.”

In a recent article, Price said she learned that 1 in 14 Haitian children don’t make it to their fifth birthday.

“That’s unacceptable,” she said. “If we heard about a similar situation here in Mountain Brook, we’d all jump in to help.”

With her own children healthy and happy at home, Price said she knew she had to do something. With time, Price said she’s realized that she is exactly where she is supposed to be. 

“I am who I am for a reason,” she said. “I can help share this message.”

Today, it’s her daily mission to educate on the global water crisis and to raise funds for the distribution of Filter of Hope’s technology.

 “The filters can last up to 10 years,” said Price, “and clean up to 150 gallons of water per day.” 

In her own community, Price said all it would take is for a Mountain Brook family to make themselves sandwiches for a night and donate what they would have spent on dinner to Filter of Hope. “It’s that easy to change lives,” she said. 

Later this year, Price will once again travel with the organization to deliver the filters she had helped raise money for. 

“What our families need to realize is that these aren’t just children on the other side of a screen,” she said. “These are real children, just as real as our own.”

To donate or learn more, visit filterofhope.org or call 310-4950.