Mike Aman — former owner of One Source Communications — always viewed his business as a ministry. Servant-leadership is the core of the company. For the staff, communications is their day-to-day job, but building relationships and helping people is their mission.
After learning about the global water crisis, Mike and his ministry counsel at One Source decided to pray about how they could make a difference.
Every Christmas, they would spend money on gifts for vendors and employees, but they wanted to do something bigger than giving gift baskets. They wanted to make an eternal impact.
That’s when they decided to partner with World Help. Whatever they would have spent on Christmas gifts, they committed to donate toward building clean-water wells.
For the past seven years, the mission to provide clean water for people in need has become ingrained in the identity of the company. Framed photographs of the wells hang in the corporate office in Greenville, North Carolina, along with a map showing all the different areas that now have clean water.
The company has provided water wells in India, Guatemala, Kenya, Uganda, Honduras, Nepal, and Peru. As a result, more than 12,000 people now have access to clean water!
Even under new ownership, One Source will forge ahead and continue building more wells. “Very generous, giving, and kind,” Mike said of Tim Meng, the new owner. “I don’t have any doubt that they’ll continue to go forward as long as the need is there.”
Even through this new transition, the heart of the company has remained the same: helping those in need.
“It’s nice to have a purpose that goes beyond ourselves and having the opportunity to help those who are so much less fortunate,” Mike said. He noted that the experience has made him and his employees think about the things they often take for granted — like being able to go to the spigot and get clean drinking water.
The One Source staff’s eagerness to help comes from a desire to fulfill God’s call on their lives. “The more we understand [God’s] love for us, the easier it is for us to give because we just really want to love Him back with our lives,” Mike said. “And that includes giving, especially to those who are less fortunate and in dire circumstances.”
Like the little girl throwing starfish back into the ocean, One Source Communications knows each saved life is worth the effort.
“We can’t solve the world water problem,” Mike said. “But we can be part of the solution.”