We were lucky to catch up with Jacob Niemeier recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jacob, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
I founded Vera Aqua Vera Vita in 2017. Although, it all began during a foreign mission trip in 2011 with a team of students from St. Thomas Aquinas’ Catholic Newman Center at Purdue University to Haiti a year after its devastating 2010 earthquake that opened my eyes to the world’s biggest problems such as poverty, the food crisis, and the global water crisis. This trip combined with my studies at Purdue in Agricultural and Biological Engineering with a focus on water resources, inspired me to respond to a calling from God that started me on the the journey to be more actively involved in the Global Water Crisis which eventually led me to found Vera Aqua Vera Vita.
One story sticks with me every time I thinks back to my trip to Haiti:
“I was shocked by the severity of poverty I witnessed. There was a woman that walked from her tent carrying a bucket to the canal that was flowing through the city and filled up her bucket with water that looked like chocolate milk. The canal had animals defecating and walking around it, was visibly full of trash and litter, and had people washing their clothes and dumping their waste into it”.
I knew the woman was going to use the water for her family, and it was likely to make them sick if not kill them.
This personal and firsthand encounter with the reality of the problem was a pivotal experience in my journey to start Vera Aqua Vera Vita which means “True Water True Life” and answer the call to provide clean, safe water to people in need in developing countries.
After graduating from Purdue University in 2012, I accepted a position as a water resources engineer consultant in Dallas, Texas, as an Engineer in Training (E.I.T). I continued to foster my calling and began building my network to have a solid foundation to launch Vera Aqua Vera Vita. An opportunity arose in 2015 when friends of mine approached mine approached me about a community in the Piuran region of Peru in need of clean water. As I recall:
“A few members of the pueblo of Monte Castillo had approached my friends to ask if they could help them get clean water because their children and elderly were suffering and dying, and immediately my friends thought of seeking out me to help them because in our social circles that we would hang out in, I would very often be talking about wanting to work to combat the global water crisis.”
Together with my friends, the legitimate momentum needed to actually get an organization off the ground had begun with an enormous amount of prayer & support and a pilot project to bring clean, safe water to 7000+ people in the aforementioned community, Monte Castillo. To solidify my credentials, in 2016, I earned my Professional Engineering (P.E.) license and finally, on June 13, 2017, Vera Aqua Vera Vita, Inc. was born as a nonprofit NGO and began its mission to bring “True Water True Life” to the less fortunate in developing countries.
The pilot project in Monte Castillo that served as the final bit of motivation needed to launch VAVV started back in May 2015 and eventually commenced operations on Aug. 3, 2019, when the constructed and tested Water Treatment Plant commenced operations and ever since it has provided consistent access for clean water to the entire community.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I am a water resources engineer turned entrepreneurial founder of a nonprofit NGO, Vera Aqua Vera Vita, focused on putting the Global Water Crisis in the history books. I have certainly taken the road less traveled in my career journey, but it is a journey that even looking back now I would not have wanted to do any other way. My journey is truly a calling that has roots in my very core interests, passions, gifts, and skills. From as long as I can remember I have had a great passion for problem solving and adventure whether it is with water, the environment, travel, or people. While studying Environmental Engineering with a focus on Water at Purdue University, I, also, recognized the needs and suffering of people in developing countries through two separate mission trips to both Haiti and Africa which I credit as the ultimate inspiration for me eventually starting Vera Aqua Vera Vita.
My faith life as a Catholic is foundational to everything I do and inspires in me a desire to serve the homeless, spend time in adoration of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, avail myself to the sacraments of the Catholic Church as much as possible, and fellowship/socialize to build strong bonds of community with my other Catholic Christian friends.
Personally, in my free time, which is relatively limited these days, I like to spend time with my wife, Fernanda Niemeier & their growing family, keep up with superhero TV shows and movies, fish, hunt, hike, camp, play basketball, play board games, and basically play any type of sport or compete in just about anything. I am, also, very passionate about craft beer and in my own words: “Beer = 95% Water | Water = Life | Beer = 95% Life!?!” This is me joking around, of course.
At my core, I am a visionary. I am a big-picture guy. I am a problem-solver. I am a facilitator. I am missionary-service oriented. I am fun-loving. I love people. I am a faithful and enthusiastic Catholic. Ultimately, I strive daily to live my life aligned with this quote: “If everyone was who God created them to be then we would set the world ablaze!” – St. Catherine of Siena
It is with these same core values and passions that Vera Aqua Vera Vita has been infused with a vision for a better world. VAVV envisions a world where death, hardship, and poverty caused by lack of access to clean water and improved sanitation are no more. We desire to see people flow from simply surviving to truly thriving! And VAVV believes that lack of access to clean water and improved sanitation is the primary cause of poverty in developing countries. It is not enough to just give clean water; empowerment is the key to sustainable change! Thus, “by tapping into the physical and spiritual nature of water, VAVV empowers people and communities in developing countries to generate clean water and sanitation solutions that bring ‘True Water True Life!'”
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
When leading from a position of “superiority” as opposed to a position of a “servant” the perception of those you lead is that you are just another “boss” or “controlling leader.” Servant Leadership is true leadership because when you get down in the “trenches” so to speak, “walk the walk” and put others before yourself then you earn the right to “talk the talk!” As Pope Paul VI put it in 1975, “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”
This fundamental truth rings abundantly true in my life where my whole career is dedicated towards a mission of service. Quite frankly, leading from a position of service and authentic concern for those I serve and those I lead has led to abundant fruits of our collective team efforts! I only hope my witness of humble service and servant leadership can inspire others to servants in their own little ways. Finally, I will close with this, one of my greatest hopes is to inspire others to chase their dreams and not be afraid to take a leap of faith into the unknown because it is when we stretch ourselves we discover what our true potential is and the fullness of the gifts, talents, and skills we possess that are meant to be used in services of others!
You know what, when the managing and leading a team is not about me but instead it is about others then naturally a spirit of service and selflessness permeates the team and raises morale because everyone recognizes that we are all in this together to make the world a better place!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Honestly, I believe, my whole journey to found and continue to grow the nonprofit NGO, Vera Aqua Vera Vita (VAVV), is a story of resilience. From day one I took a leap of faith leaving a comfortable well-paying job to start VAVV where I had no idea what the future would like nor what challenges I would face along the way. However, despite many challenges and obstacles along the way, I can confidently say that if it were not for my perseverance and more critically my resilience during moments of setback and unexpected happenings that VAVV would not be growing and thriving like it is today. One of the greatest resiliency testing challenges that I have faced along my journey was taking the idea that I had in my head for an organization and bringing it to reality. Along the way, we have faced many setbacks. One of which were some unexpected delays in getting our IRS 501(c)3 status. Additionally, efforts to establish our identity and brand have proven challenging because of our desire to truly differentiate ourselves from other similar organizations. We have had to adapt along the way and certainly fine-tune organizational identity to reflect the ever-changing landscape of the Global Water Crisis. Above and beyond all of the aforementioned challenges, the greatest test of resiliency has been one that I have personally faced in having an income that is considerably less than what I was making while working in corporate America. This very fact has at multiple times made me question if I should continue this journey with Vera Aqua Vera Vita, but every time I have had doubts, I have been affirmed abundantly that this is exactly Global Water Crisis. do, and these affirmations have come in the form of incredible growth of the VAVV mission. Now, the future is brighter than ever!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.givetruewater.org
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/veraaquaveravita
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/veraaquaveravita/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vera-aqua-vera-vita/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/VerAquaVeraVita
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWxgGXMoVAc3GnAfWqIPWRw?sub_confirmation=1
- Other: True Water Vision news site: https://www.truewatervision.org/ Mayu’s Water Story: https://mayustorybook.life/