Denver-based Applewood Plumbing provides bathrooms for families in Nepal

 Story by Elisabeth Monaghan

Photos courtesy of NIVAS

Credit: NIVAS

According to NIVAS, a nonprofit in Denver that helps families living in extreme poverty, 24% of households in Nepal do not have access to basic sanitation. NIVAS’ program, which assists single-mother, marginalized families with finding safe housing and improved living standards, uses local workers to build secure, safe bathrooms. Access to such facilities has a dramatic effect on the overall health and safety of the family.

As part of its mission to aid those they serve to find dignity, security, and strength through the process of homeownership, NIVAS relies on trade partners. Among those partnering with NIVAS is Denver-based Applewood Plumbing Heating & Electric, which is providing  12 families in Nepal with sanitary bathrooms over the next year.

Applewood’s partnership with NIVAS will assist single-women families with children under the age of 17 living in multi-dimensional poverty to have access to safe shelter and other resources.

“This is our first effort to provide assistance beyond Colorado,” said Josh Ward, owner of Applewood Plumbing Heating & Electric, in a company press release. “Here, we take having a clean, accessible bathroom for granted. In these rural areas of Nepal, many lack such facilities and we can help to change that.”

Applewood will also sponsor NIVAS’ upcoming “House Party” fundraising event at Woodie Fisher in downtown Denver on September 29, 2022. The annual event has a goal of $80,000 this year to help provide the following: build disaster-resilient homes for single moms, train 40+ local tradespeople on resilient construction, train 70+ women with vocational skills, infuse new home businesses with start-up capital, and help approximately 30 people out of homelessness. The evening will include a live and silent auction, creative entertainment, and a select menu from Chef Franco Ruiz. Tickets are $75 or $280/4; more information can be found at the Annual House Party Event 2022.

NIVAS, which is a Nepalese word meaning home, has been working to provide resources for safe housing since 2013.