by Alan Babbitt
To make the world a better and safer place, Kurt Avery '74 put to work the education he received at Hope College and the marketing skills he developed during a successful professional career.
The former Flying Dutchmen baseball and soccer player is owner of Sawyer Products, a manufacturer of world-class water filtration products, insect repellent, sunblocks and outdoor protection.
Avery-led and Florida-based Sawyer Products is working with colleges and universities, charitable organizations and governments across the globe to provide clean drinking water and other support for developing countries and areas recovering from natural disasters.
Avery is the 2019 recipient of the Hope for Humanity Award that is presented to Hope College alumni athletes who have demonstrated Christian commitment and service to others in their careers after Hope.
On Wednesday, Avery received his award during the annual HOPEYs Awards ceremony at DeVos Fieldhouse.
Photo of Kurt Avery by Tom Renner
"Helping others came about after we put this product line together," Avery said. "A third of the world is dying because of mosquito bites and bad water. I said to God, 'Let's fix that!' And by we, I'm meaning Him. We had the right products.
"We do refugee camps. We do disaster relief. We do transformational. Life-saving, life-protecting and life-changing, those are our three goals."
Avery, along with his wife, Barbara (Boerman) '77, has been running Sawyer Products for 34 years. The family-run business is located in Safety Harbor, Florida, near Tampa. The couple has four adult children.
Sawyer focuses on finding the best products and getting them at cost to those who can distribute them, or for free through donation in the event of a natural disaster. Charity is the focus at Sawyer, not profit.
"We're a company with a mission," Avery said. "I'm not going to take anything with me. We have a lot more resources we can put into it."
The current Sawyer water filter can treat 500 gallons of water daily.
"Each dollar spent on our water filter saves $338 for the recipient. That's translated to American dollars, but it doesn't matter what culture you're in, it's that magnitude," Avery said. "You're saving on medicine. You're saving on buying water that still isn't good. You have an extra 30 days you can work because you're not sick. Your kids can go to school. It's pretty powerful."
Avery is inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs and scientists as well.
He works with college science departments, including his alma mater, to prove that Sawyer Products are performing at the highest level and delivering health benefits as promised.
In 2017, Hope partnered with Sawyer and Give Clean Water, a California-based nonprofit, to help provide clean water to residents in Fiji. Devastation lingered there after three hurricanes pummeled the island in the past two years, leaving about 500,000 people -- nearly 50 percent of the island's population – without access to safe water.
Hope students tracked and researched the Fiji water results on campus. They also developed a series of questions that are presented to Fijian households before they receive a Sawyer filter, and again at different intervals after using the filter on a daily basis, to help make sure the Sawyer filters continue to work properly.
Sawyer also has partnered with the college's SEED Program (Sport Evangelism to Equip Disciples) to provide water filters to be given away during international mission trips for student-athletes.
Sawyer has accepted Hope students as interns at its business, including softball player Amanda Diaz last summer. After her internship, Diaz went on a SEED trip and saw the water filters making an impact.
"During my time at Sawyer, I saw his determination to make the world a better place," Diaz said. "The SEED trip is a life-changing trip that not only allowed me to grow in my faith, but provide me a new perspective of the world."
