Doc Hendley

Biography

Doc Hendley is a 2009 CNN Hero. He is President/Founder of the organization Wine To Water and is also a professional public speaker.

In 2003 he dreamed up the concept of his organization while bartending and playing music in nightclubs around Raleigh, North Carolina. In February 2004 the first fundraiser was held for what would one day be Wine to Water and by August of that same year Hendley was living in Darfur, Sudan installing water systems for victims of the government supported genocide. Putting his life in peril, along with those on his team who were committed to providing clean water for the world, two of which were killed during this period, Hendley returned home with an even stronger sense of the need of clean water around the globe.

When Doc returned home in August 2005, after spending a year in Darfur, the haunting memories of what he had seen in Darfur drove him to continue building the organization he started two years prior. In 2007, after working two jobs and volunteering his time for 3 years, Wine To Water became an official 501 (c) (3) and Doc`s dream finally became a reality. He now has projects in 9 different countries around the world and has saved thousands of lives by providing humanity`s most basic need and right, clean drinking water.

"When the idea came to me to start Wine to Water the only real job experience I had was tending bar," said Hendley, "I dreamed of building an organization that fought water related death and disease using different methods than anyone else. So, I started raising money to fight this water epidemic that best way I knew how, by pouring wine and playing music."

Doc lives in Boone, NC with his wife, Amber, and two sons, Justice and Beattie. Balancing family life and the demands of building Wine to Water, Doc Hendley continues to travel to underdeveloped, war-ridden nations, working in the field to bring clean water to those in need.

Publications

Wine to Water:
A Bartender`s Quest to Bring Clean Water to the World

Doc Hendley never set out to be a hero. In 2004, Hendley-a small- town bartender- launched a series of wine-tasting events to raise funds for clean-water projects and to bring awareness to the world`s freshwater crisis. He planned to donate the proceeds through traditional channels, but instead found himself traveling to one of the world`s most dangerous hot spots: Darfur, Sudan.

There, Doc witnessed a government-sponsored genocide where the number-one weapon wasn`t bullets-it was water. The Janjaweed terrorists had figured out that shooting up a bladder containing 10,000 liters of water, or dumping rotting corpses into a primary water source is remarkably efficient for the purposes of mass extermination. With limited funds, Doc realized that he couldn`t build new wells costing $10,000 a pop, but he could hire local workers to restore a damaged well for a mere $50 each. He`d found his mission. Today, Doc and Wine to Water continue to help stricken peoples repair and maintain water - containment systems in places like Darfur, Cambodia, Uganda, and Haiti.

Doc is a regular, rough-and-tumble guy who loves booze, music, and his Harley - but he also wanted to help. Wine to Water is a gripping story about braving tribal warfare and natural disasters and encountering fascinating characters in far-flung regions of the world. It is also an authoritative account of a global crisis and an inspirational tale that proves how ordinary people can improve the world.

Titles

Digging for Hope: Turning Wine to Water & Other Modern Day Miracles
- teaches us to do what we can with what we have
- illustrates the immense power of relationships to transcend perceived barriers
- proves the power of one to transform the impossible into the inevitable

"Hell or High Water: How One Man Turned Wine into Water and Transformed Customers into Crusaders"