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"I began thinking of taking on a project to help some underprivileged families towards the end of 2019," Alptekin said. "I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about Watergen - which is the organization where I'll eventually be purchasing my technology from - about air to water generators that take water droplets from the air and atmosphere and condense it to create hundreds of liters a day or portable water. I was fascinated by it and so I reached out.
"I connected with Dr. Samuel Aronson, who is the former director of Brookhaven National Laboratory and is over in Kenya right now working with his team to try and stimulate the economy over there through solar technology," Alptekin continued. "I basically created my whole nonprofit off of that interaction as well as the one with the water gen. The mission of I2SP is to help underprivileged families and to provide hope and help through this innovative technology."
By March 2020, I2SP became an officially registered nonprofit and Alptekin identified Kenya as a location of where she hopes to integrate her first water generators. Following a few conversations with Aronson and the Turkana Basin Institute Turkwel Research Facility in Turkana County in northern Kenya, Alptekin pinpointed where she hopes to first execute her project.
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Alptekin projected the total cost for the project will be $200,000. She's began her fundraising efforts with a Go Fund Me page and an online donation form. She hopes to be able to create larger events in the future, dependent on the circumstances of COVID-19 guidelines and also hopes that her efforts will benefit from notoriety or word of mouth.
"This is something that I'm really passionate about," Alptekin said. "Just knowing that I could make a difference in someone's life and maybe even transform their life is so amazing and what drives me to pursue this project and hopefully deploy these Watergens very soon."
For more information on Alptekin's project or donation links please visit
http://i2sp.org/
Nominated by Islanders Alumnus Steve Webb's Team Up 4 Community Program www.TeamUp4Community.org
