Endicott man starts 'Feel the Luv' project

Zach Watson, left, collects water samples with children in the south Sudan. Watson lived in the south Sudan while doing humanitarian work.

This tent and tukul served as an office and home for Watson’s work in the south Sudan.

Watson, center, assists with a well drill project in Uganda.

Zach Watson has spent much of the last six years abroad. He has found himself in South Sudan, Pakistan and Iraq, working in humanitarian work, striving to make a difference for the people there.

Now, Watson is back in his hometown of Endicott, but his heart is still abroad. The son of Marv and Kenda Hergert, Watson grew up in Endicott with siblings Brad Hergert, Tiffany Startin and Tenaya Hergert. He spent eight years working for American Airlines before leaving his job to focus on making a difference in the world.

“I've been doing humanitarian work for six years,” said Watson. “I had this desire to go do humanitarian work. It was kind of pulling me.”

Through his time in Africa, Pakistan and Iraq, Watson's heart for the work grew, and he made the decision to start a charitable organization on his own to help build bridges and connections across the globe.

It was connection, he said, that helped him to see the difference that could be made.

“My hypothesis is that people do care, they just feel disconnected with the way organizations are sending their donor messages,” said Watson.

He aims to bring connection into the global mission of charity.

“What I felt was missing in charity is the connection. I felt like that was missing to the average donor,” he said.

Watson has started up a charitable organization called “Feel the Luv.” He has partnered with eight others in various places across the globe who he has met through his humanitarian work to start up a group dedicated to poverty alleviation. The goal, as explained on the group's website, is “to link philanthropists to the best humanitarian projects and (to) become the premiere fundraising channel for poverty alleviation.”

“We're just getting started up,” said Watson. “We're in the start up phase, so there's no active projects, but we're making plans for what it would look like.”

Watson said he aims to connect people to the projects they are donating to. He said he feels this could be accomplished through a digital platform.

“We're taking philanthropy into the social media age,” he said. “We want to bring that experience to where you could connect with a community maybe in Africa, or a community that needs a water system or to build a school.”

Watson said it is important for people to feel connected to the work.

“I wanted to create something where it's about the human connection first,” he said.

He explained that being able to connect with the communities he was serving by living there was eye-opening for him, something that allowed the work to take on new meanings.

“The experience was amazing and rewarding,” he said, noting he lived in a mud hut in the Sudan. “It was an amazing feeling of connection to the community.”

As Feel the Luv is getting launched, Watson said his aim is to center in on how to best make connections and keep those connections.

“We're going to figure out how to connect with people in the fast-paced, 24-hour news cycle we're living in,” he said.

Building connections, he said, is a different platform in humanitarian aid.

“Humanitarian aid these days is done like a business. We're just wanting to do it a little different,” he said. “It's not meant to be like a business.”

Working out of Endicott for the time being, Watson said he feels that the connections can start at the local level to go global.

“Local communities and small towns might be a great place to start,” he said.

Watson said he feels that the connections are key to helping people realize they can make a difference.

“While today's global problems seem so huge, many people might think the problems are just too big for an individual to do anything about,” said Watson. “But you can make a difference. As little as $5,000 could give a village in Africa clean water for life. It might sound like a lot, but that's the equivalent of 10 people giving up a few cups of coffee a week for a year.”

To learn more about the organization or to give financial support, visit http://www.feeltheluv.org. The group can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.