Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and Procter & Gamble Form Landmark Partnership

July 9, 2012 - PRLog -- Ipswich, Mass. – The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur recently entered into a landmark partnership with Procter & Gamble, makers of the P&G water purification packets (formerly known as PUR). The Sisters will buy the packets at a reduced cost from an in-country P&G distributor and truck the packets to their missions in rural areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.
In impoverished Africa, daily survival tasks such as walking miles to collect water and firewood are shouldered by women and children, who have no choice. These tasks compromise their health and personal safety while siphoning time and energy away from opportunities that would offer them much greater rewards. Providing access to clean drinking water will alleviate some measure of this daily burden in communities surrounding the Sisters’ mission sites.
“Improving public health is an integral part of the Congregation’s overall efforts to increase educational and economic opportunities for impoverished communities,” said Sister Leonore Coan, director of the Congregation’s Mission Support Office. “Putting systems in place that support these efforts – particularly for women and children – is at the heart of the Congregation’s mission.”
Each small P&G water purification packet purifies the equivalent of two-and-a-half gallons of river or well water. The process calls for rudimentary understanding of measurements and proportion in order for the product to be used safely and effectively. Responsibility for educating local women about the P&G water purification product will fall to the Sisters.
“P&G is proud to work with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur to provide clean drinking water to those most in need,” said Dr. Greg Allgood, director of the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program. “There is no doubt that we can achieve more together than alone.”
According to P&G’s web site, Procter & Gamble’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program has delivered over 4 billion liters of clean drinking water to date. The program’s new goal is to save one life every hour by delivering more than 2 billion liters of clean drinking water every year by 2020. According to Dr. Allgood, forming partnerships with organizations such as the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur will help accomplish this goal.
According to Sister Leonore, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur will continue to seek out collaborations that help the Congregation continue to live its mission. “This unique collaboration between the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and a multinational corporation like P&G points the way to a more creative future,” Sister Leonore said.  “We will pursue every creative avenue available to us in order to minimize the debilitating effects of poverty.”  

For more information about the Congregation's collaboration with Procter & Gamble, visit:
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs020/1103923442549/ar...

Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are an international religious Congregation of women, founded by St. Julie Billiart (1751-1816) in Amiens, France in 1804.  We are committed to making known God’s goodness through education in a variety of ministries. We serve on five continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. We work to change lives by “our fundamental commitment to stand with our sisters and brothers who live in poverty and accompany them in their struggle.” We staff offices/centers in Rome, ITALY, Namur, BELGIUM and Ipswich, MA, USA. We maintain a web site at: http://www.sndden.org.