Daily Inspiration: Meet Erin Huber

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Huber.

Hi Erin , please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started my first nonprofit organization when I was 16 years old, called Covering Cleveland. I was driving around at night in downtown Cleveland with my friends going to a concert, and I saw someone my age making their bed on the sidewalk during a blizzard. I had a blanket in my car, so I decided to pull over and help. From that day forward, I started Covering Cleveland and Help the Homeless. Afterwards, I ran that nonprofit for seven years while going to school, working, volunteering as a big sister at Big Brothers Big Sisters, and volunteering at soup kitchens on the weekends and on holidays, while also doing everything I could to protect the environment. When I started my undergrad at Cleveland State University, I realized that working in water would help me improve a lot of problems that I cared about in the world. And starting out on this path, as I went into my master’s degree, I founded Drink Local, Drink Tap with a group of passionate Clevelanders who wanted to keep Lake Erie clean. But I not only wanted to keep Lake Erie clean, I wanted to build water stewardship in everybody in my community to protect our water for the future, and also to make sure that we not only had clean water, but everyone had access to it everywhere. That’s how Drink Local, Drink Tap was born.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Starting an organization or movement, or anything new, is not easy. As a social entrepreneur, especially getting people to believe in you or believe that you are capable, you have a good idea, and that it’s worth investing in, it’s really difficult. Early on, looking back, I really value the people and organizations who believed in us before it was cool and really created space for us to try to do what we thought would be helpful for the world. I never thought we would reach 17 years old as an organization, but putting one foot in front of the other over the years and honestly doing the hard stuff makes it all worth it. Fundraising is always a struggle, and as an organization grows, learning how to adapt to changing times in the external world and also changing structures and people internally. There’s a lot to balance in a smaller organization, especially one with such a complex mission. Still, I’m thankful for the people who are at the table now with us and all of the people who’ve been at the table with us over the years to help build this to what it is today.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
The way that Drink Local Drink Tap approaches its work, both domestically in the U.S. and in Uganda in East Africa, is always done with great intention and depth, with sustainability and long-term changes in mind. Domestically in the U.S., we’re known for our work in the Great Lakes region, specifically helping to keep Lake Erie clean and also inspiring tens of thousands of kids in Northeast Ohio with our school programming. We’re literally building the future water stewards who will carry this work forward. Globally, in East Africa and the other Great Lakes region of the world, we have always moved at the speed of trust in building community-centered water, sanitation, and hygiene projects, mostly in rural schools. This work is not easy to do, and the communities we work in are, many times, extremely remote, last-mile communities. This work puts people first, and we ensure that these projects are truly community-owned. This means that the pace at which Drink Local Drink Tap implements projects might not be the pace that many other organizations handle their construction, but our facilities last, and our communities are truly and genuinely engaged in both the planning process and implementation, and most importantly, taking care of these projects for decades and generations to come. This really sets us apart, not only in Uganda, but I believe in the world.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I feel extremely lucky to have worked as Dr. Nicholas Zingale’s graduate assistant at Cleveland State University during my master’s program because he’s the one who believed in me enough to help me get started as I was dreaming up Drink Local, Drink Tap and the work that I wanted to do in water. His encouragement created space for me to focus on building the foundation of the organization in those early days. I also feel incredibly fortunate to have met so many instrumental people along the way who guided me, encouraged me, and supported me in turning this vision into reality. I’m not sure how my life- or how the tens of thousands of lives that we’ve impacted would have turned out otherwise. I truly see that one lucky moment and the many people who followed as something that has impacted generations forever.

Pricing:

• $30 can bring clean water to one person for life

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.drinklocaldrinktap.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drinklocaldrinktap/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrinkLocalDrinkTap
• LinkedIn: Drink Local Drink Tap
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@drinklocaldrinktap