Wave Magazine Online Jacksonville University News Hub
Incoming JU freshman Jacob “Jac” Shacter is getting praise in the media for his efforts to bring clean drinking water to African communities.
Shacter, beginning at age 12, received the chance to give $2,500 from his family’s foundation to a charity of his choice, according to a Florida Times-Union story Wednesday, July 24.
“He selected MIMA Uganda, a Jacksonville Beach-based nonprofit that funds water projects, schools and churches in Uganda,” reporter Beth Reese Cravey wrote in her story.
“I remember hearing (people) had to a take a bucket and walk several miles to a river,” said Shacter, whose older brother Zach is a JU alumnus and was student body president until his term ended in 2012. “Getting fresh water to people should be easy,” Shacter continues in the article.
Now 17, he is heading with a MIMA contingent next week to Uganda with supplies such as a solar-charging panel, hand-cranked lights and lots of shoes for the children.
“The 10 tanks … are well-known in their communities. So when Shacter arrives, he will be greeted as a celebrity,” according to the Times-Union story.
Because the money came from his family foundation after selling their successful homebuilding business, Shacter heaped any accolades back onto his parents and their efforts.
“I don’t feel as responsible as people think I am,” Shacter, who graduated from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts and heads to JU in the fall, is quoted in the article. “I just pointed it [the money] in a direction.”
Others, however, are impressed that someone as young as 12 “saw the needs he was trying to meet in far-off Uganda.”
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