West Islip Club Has Big Plans For 2018

WEST ISLIP, NY - West Islip students are working to raise money for a cause important to them.

In 2012, after seeing a tweet with a link to the Thirst Project website from actress and activist Pauley Perrette, West Islip High School teacher Paola Nilsen was inspired to start her own local chapter for the non-profit.

After reading about the largest youth water activism organization, Nilsen emailed its founder and CEO Seth Maxwell to ask about the group.

Maxwell informed her that 100 percent of students donations go to building fresh water projects for those 663 million people worldwide who lack access to clean water.

After that, Nilsen brought the charity to her International Baccalaureate Italian class at the high school where she has been a teacher since 1993 and the West Islip chapter of the Thirst Project was born.

Since then, the local school club has grown to over 125 active members and has raised over $108,000 for sustainable water projects in India, Uganda, Swaziland and El Salvador which provided safe, clean drinking water to more than 4,325 people .

The club members all work to raise money and awareness about the global water crisis through sporting events, local restaurant and Paint Night fundraisers, recycling bottles and cans from the high school and from community donations and designing and selling custom merchandise.

The club members show no signs of slowing down. With 2017 coming to a close soon, the members of the West Islip Thirst Project have big plans for 2018.

In May, the club will host the second annual Thirst Gala at Bergen Point and in June, they will host their first charity golf outing there, too.

"We are very active on social media platforms, trying to educate those who don’t know about the global water crisis," Nilsen said. It is a life-threatening problem that these students are convinced they can eradicate in their lifetime."

In addition to hosting the two events in 2018, current co-presidents, seniors Ian Nilsen and Cayla Romano, have set a goal of $30,000.

Currently, the group members have raised over $22,000 since Sept. 2017, mainly as a result of generous donations made to their online platform (https://my.thirstproject.org/team/129803) through which members have given up their birthdays for donations for clean water projects.

"Our West Islip community has been so generous, attending our events and supporting our student members for the past 5 years," Nilsen said. "We are hopeful that they can help us meet this year’s goal of $30,000."

Donations can be made through the website or by check (payable to West Islip Public Schools, 1 Lions Path West Islip to the attention of Paola Nilsen).

Photo caption: Paola Nilsen in Swaziland, July 2013 with Juliet, a mother and grandmother battling HIV-AIDS and raising orphans in her community

Photo courtesy of Paola Nilsen