Paper for Water is a charity started in Dallas, Texas, in 2011 by two sisters, Isabelle and Katherine Adams, then aged 8 and 5. They fold paper into origami ornaments, give them to people in return for donations, and pass the money to partner organisations that drill wells and build clean-water projects. By late 2019 the charity reported more than $2 million raised and over 200 water projects funded in about 20 countries.
Here is how it started, how a paper star becomes a working well, how the numbers grew, and what the story tells us about clean water and about giving well.
How two young sisters started Paper for Water
In 2011 the girls learned that many children their age spend hours each day carrying water instead of going to school, and that dirty water kills children every day. Katherine later explained their reaction in a CNN interview: "We thought that was really unfair and we really wanted to do something about it."
Their father, who is half Japanese, had taught them to fold paper. So they decided to sell origami to help pay for a well in Ethiopia. On the first night they raised almost $800. They raised their target to $9,200 and finished the year with more than $10,000, enough to help fund that first well through the charity Living Water International.
What started as a family project kept growing. The sisters became co-CEOs of the organisation, with their parents, Ken and Deborah, and younger sister Trinity also involved. Paper for Water operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit under the umbrella of the Keiki International Foundation.
From folded paper to a working well
The model is simple, and that is part of its strength. Paper is donated or bought at a discount. Volunteers of all ages fold it into ornaments such as stars and baubles. A typical ornament uses around 30 sheets, each folded more than 15 times, and takes 20 minutes to an hour to make. The ornaments are offered as thank-you gifts for donations, starting at about $20, online, at gift fairs and art shows, and in some holiday seasons through select Neiman Marcus stores.
The money then goes to two established water charities:
- Living Water International, based in Texas, which drills wells and runs water projects overseas. Its staff can stay with a community for up to two years to help people learn habits, such as keeping water containers clean, that stop water from being contaminated after it leaves the pump.
- DigDeep, which works on water access in the United States, mostly on Native American reservations, where many homes still have no running water.
Because the folding is done by volunteers and materials are often donated, the charity says nearly all of each donation reaches the water projects. Larger efforts drew huge crowds: a 4,000-piece butterfly installation, "From Fold to Flight", at the Galleria Dallas took more than 800 volunteers, and an origami tree made for Neiman Marcus sold for $50,000.
How the fundraising grew, year by year
Reports from different years give a clear picture of steady growth. Treat each figure as a snapshot from its date:
- 2011: just over $10,000 in the first year, for a well in Ethiopia.
- 2015: about $650,000 and roughly 70 wells, as reported when this story first circulated, with projects in Africa, India, Mexico, Peru and the US.
- Around 2017: $1.2 million and more than 145 wells in 14 countries, according to Texas Monthly.
- April 2019: more than $1.6 million, over 160 projects, more than 17 countries (Dallas Innovates).
- December 2019: more than $2 million and over 200 water projects in 20 countries (CNN).
By then the sisters were teenagers, folding for anything from 45 minutes to four hours a day during the school year. Isabelle summed up their belief: "Kids have an incredible ability to enact real change in the world if they're just given the chance."
Why a single well matters so much
Clean water is one of the most powerful health tools there is. According to the World Health Organization, 2.2 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water in 2022. About 115 million people collected untreated water straight from rivers, lakes and ponds, and almost 300 million more relied on unprotected wells and springs.
The cost is counted in lives. The WHO estimates that around 505,000 people die each year from diarrhoea caused by contaminated drinking water, and about one million when poor sanitation and hand hygiene are included. Young children are hit hardest.
There is a quieter cost too. Where the nearest safe source is more than a 30-minute round trip, collecting water eats into the day, and the job often falls to women and girls. A well close to home can mean more time in class, fewer illnesses and more time to earn a living.
Two common misunderstandings
"Build a well and the problem is solved." Not quite. A well helps only for as long as it works, and broken pumps that nobody is trained or paid to fix are a well-known problem in rural water projects. That is why Paper for Water's choice of partners matters: Living Water's long stays in communities and its focus on hygiene and maintenance are aimed at exactly this problem.
"A child dies every few seconds." Statistics like this circulate widely, including in coverage of this charity, and they vary from source to source. The figures above from the WHO are more reliable and still make the case: unsafe water remains one of the leading avoidable causes of death in poor countries.
What this story offers anyone who wants to help
The Adams sisters did not invent a new technology. They used a skill they already had, chose experienced partners, and kept going for years. A few lessons follow from that:
- Start with what you can do. Folding, baking, running or making music can all become fundraising if the cause is clear.
- Fund people who do the work well. Before giving to any water charity, look for who maintains the pumps and how they report results.
- Count projects, not just dollars. Paper for Water reported wells and countries alongside money raised, which makes progress easier to check.
- Involve others. Hundreds of volunteers turned a family hobby into an organisation.
Isabelle put it simply when the story first spread, telling Good News Network that "if everyone in this world helps a little, it all adds up to a lot."
Paper for Water shares its news on Facebook, and ornaments were offered through its donation page.
Sources: CNN via WTVR: Teen sisters turn origami into a way to fund clean water projects (December 2019); Dallas Innovates: Paper for Water is led by some of Dallas' youngest CEOs (April 2019); Texas Monthly: Kids build a nonprofit empire of folded paper; World Health Organization: Drinking-water fact sheet; Good News Network (2015). Story first reported by True Activist.
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