Who We Are

Although Water Charity is relatively new as an organization, we have been “doing water projects” for well over 40 years. In a short time, we have risen to be one of the prominent global water charities. Here is some information about us.

JahSun – CEO

As Chief Executive Officer, JahSun runs the company and serves as its public face. He has extensive experience in community development and high level networking. His background in the entertainment industry makes him uniquely qualified to lead the fundraising efforts of Water Charity, acquire celebrity endorsements, and to marshal donor and community support for our various campaigns and projects.

JahSun is a noted music and film producer, screenwriter, and creative artist. In addition, he has also achieved notoriety on the international scene as a DJ and festival producer. As an event promoter, he is able to bring attention to our work and seek the support of his friends (many of whom are entertainment personalities and philanthropists) and the public at large.

As a dedicated life-long activist for various compassionate causes he understands that most bloated charity organizations squander and waste the resources and goodwill they amass with needless bureaucracy and inefficiency. Thus he was inspired to create the Water Charity as a viable means of direct activism to most help those in immediate need. It occurred to him that enabling the provision of a well, pump, or delivery system to a village, for example, is a direct and transparent way to effect an immediate positive change in the lives and wellbeing of a large number of people without requiring a massive infrastructure of paid employees. He is committed to maintaining a streamlined operation so that the vast majority of the money donated to our organization goes directly to providing clean water for those in need.

JahSun has participated in and organized development projects from Mexico to Turkey, Egypt to Honduras. Most recently, JahSun has worked on the development of temporary communal housing with a group from Switzerland. The project involved significant water supply and sanitation components and managed to house, shower, feed, and provide comfort to over 10,000 people.

In addition to running many of our on-the-ground efforts, JahSun utilizes his background in cinematography to document, archive, and publicize the efforts of our organization, and is organizing the production of documentary films about our efforts in the field.

Jacqueline Chan, DrPH. – Director, President

Throughout her lifetime, Dr. Chan has been involved in community health. As a Doctor of Public Health, her emphasis is preventive care, which is the lifestyle management of disease, and epidemiology. She has authored numerous articles published in peer-reviewed scientific public health journals, and has been an invited speaker at several international scientific meetings.

Dr. Chan’s life and her career have been directed toward identifying the causes of disease, conducting studies in the prevention of disease, and implementing programs that directly impact on disease. In the field of public health, she has done research, taught, and done extensive field work.

Since 2005, she has been working under a post-doctoral grant she secured from the National Institutes of Health to examine the effect of vitamin D and sun exposure on the risk of fatal heart disease.

From 2003 to 2006, she developed, supervised and ran successful clinics across the U.S. for a major multi-million-dollar study, with 97,000 participants, under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health. Not the type of person who just sits behind the desk, her participation extended to several multi-week cross-country excursions in which she trained, supervised, and worked side-by-side with medical technicians.

Her primary interest has always been in water. In her doctoral dissertation, she examined the relationship of water and fluids other than water on the risk of fatal and non-fatal heart disease, stroke and total mortality. Her future plans include a book on water, including its benefits, types of water, safety, and other factors.

Currently, she is working to create international field experiences for graduate students in Public Health. Water Charity channels their volunteer services into areas where their talents can do the most good.

Dr. Chan’s undergraduate degree was in Physiology and Microbiology, which included the study of tropical parasites. She understands the nature and importance having adequate amounts of clean safe water, both to consume, and to keep the body and clothes clean. Having lived in 4 countries, she has experienced living in and integrating into foreign cultures.

Averill Strasser – Secretary/Treasurer, COO

Averill founded Water Charity, and as Chief Operating Officer he runs the day-to-day operations of the organization. His background and experience in both engineering and law make him uniquely qualified for this endeavor.

Averill received a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Systems Engineering from UCLA.

He designed water systems for the Department of Water and Power of the City of Los Angeles. He was a Planner for the City of Compton, and was a Senior Program Planner in the Mayor’s Office of the City of Los Angeles.

He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer as Professor of Engineering at the University of San Andres in La Paz, Bolivia, from 1966 to 1968. During that time, he led numerous development projects into the interior of Bolivia, building water systems and sanitary facilities using student and community resources.

He went to law school and then headed a law firm in Beverly Hills for over 20 years. His legal career included, among other areas, civil rights, business, and real property litigation. Today he limits his law practice to pro bono work.

Since 1995 he has devoted himself to business development and charitable endeavors. For him, Water Charity is a dream come true: It presents the opportunity for him to go back into the field and implement projects of immediate and substantial value to people and communities in need.

Our Team of Volunteers and Interns

We are backed by a growing team of volunteers. We attract volunteers because our mission is exciting, interesting, and topical. However, of greatest importance is the fact that we provide a conduit for people with good intentions to pitch in and do meaningful work with instantly beneficial results.

Our volunteers are of two types. First, we have a few people who have generously offered us services in the area of administration and support. This allows us to keep our overhead down to a minimum, as there are many services that we would have otherwise had to spend money on, which can now be spent where it belongs – in the field.

We also have volunteers who work in-country alongside our core group on a project-by-project basis. We direct these volunteers, each of which has unique skills, background, and experiences, toward the project at hand.

We intend to implement an intern program as soon as possible. This program will provide needed assistance to our efforts and continuity in our service delivery, while offering a meaningful learning and work experience to persons interested in what we do.