Pursue Your Passion: Wine To Water

Tyler Cronk
Consulting Senior Associate
Minneapolis, MN

Part of a regional McGladrey program, three central region employees were recently awarded the opportunity to pursue their passion, with time-off and assistance from the firm. Tyler Cronk, consulting senior associate from Minneapolis, was one of the three individuals selected and will be pursuing his passion in August 2015. Tyler will be taking a 10-day trip to the Dominican Republic where he will help build water purification filters with the nonprofit organization, Wine To Water. Giving back to worthy causes has always been important to Tyler. Throughout his life, he’s volunteered and been affiliated with churches, hospitals, schools and other nonprofit organizations supporting many diverse initiatives.

Until the Pursue Your Passion program was announced, his ability to give back was confined to local and regional organizations. But you could say that international volunteerism runs in Tyler’s blood. His mother worked in the Peace Corps internationally for three years, and his sister traveled to Honduras to volunteer with a church group on a water purification project. From his family, he learned of the tremendous impact that can be made by giving of his time and resources. His mother’s and sister’s excitement and enthusiasm encouraged him to expand his horizons. The Pursue Your Passion program gave him the means.

When evaluating international volunteer organizations, one thing that was important to Tyler was to target those truly in need, living without basic necessities that Americans take for granted. One of the most basic building blocks of life is clean water. Today, nearly 800 million people in the world lack access to adequate water and 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation. Wine To Water, an international aid organization focused on providing clean water to needy people around the world, is devoted to fighting this epidemic.

Tyler feels fortunate to have ready access to clean water every day. Wine To Water provides volunteers with an opportunity to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves. While on his 10-day trip, he will not only assist with building water purification filters in the Dominican Republic, he will also get to meet with community members who will benefit from these filters.

For Tyler, this trip combines two values very important to him—teamwork and stewardship. These are also two of McGladrey’s five values. Directly impacting the lives of others and leaving the community he serves a better place is the definition of stewardship. While on the trip, Tyler will be teaming with volunteers from all over the country, possibly the world. He is excited to be part of a team working for such a great cause.

Learn more about Wine To Water and the organization's efforts. To date, Wine To Water has provided clean water and sanitation to over 250,000 people in 17 countries. Stay tuned for a recap of Tyler's adventures following his return!