Doc Hendley is proof that anyone, even a tattooed keg-tapper, can cure what ails the world.
In 2003 Doc Hendley dreamed up the concept of Wine To Water while bartending and playing music in nightclubs around Raleigh, North Carolina. In January of 2004 he held his first fundraiser and by August was living in Darfur, Sudan installing water systems for victims of the government-supported genocide.
When Doc returned home in 2005, the haunting memories of what he had seen in Darfur drove him to continue growing the organization he had started only two years earlier. And in 2007, after working two jobs and volunteering his time for over three years, Wine To Water became an official 501 (c)(3) and Doc’s dream finally became a reality.
Hendley’s work aims to help the 1.1 billion people worldwide who lack access to clean water, a figure estimated by the World Health Organization. Nearly two-thirds of that group lives in Asia. In sub-Saharan Africa, 42 percent of the population lives without yard taps, household connections or other improvements to sanitize water. Unclean water is the number one killer of children in the world. Water borne illnesses kill far more children the HIV/AIDS and Malaria combined. Every 15 seconds a child dies from unclean water.
Doc Hendley was named one of the Top 10 CNN Heroes for 2009 (chosen by a panel of judges including Gen. Colin Powell, Whoopi Goldberg, Ted Turner and Sir Elton John).
“There is one thing that rings true every time I get the pleasure of hearing Doc Hendley speak—his passion comes through and hits you like nothing you’ve ever experienced in your lifetime. It’s not just the way he interacts with the audience, a sort of down home person that you seem to already know even though you don’t, but it’s the message about improving who we are as people each and every day, and helping those who have difficulty helping themselves because of places they live in or the circumstances of their country. Doc brings that message of hope and seems to naturally lift every person out of their comfort chair and into the wilds of Africa or the devastation in Haiti right alongside him. You feel everything that he feels and see everything that he saw. We are just enamored to be part of his world in a small way and hoping to work with him to better our world in a meaningful way.”—Rich Henning, United Water, 2011 North American Managers Conference.
His book, “Wine to Water: A Bartender’s Quest to Bring Clean Water to the World” (Avery:Penguin, Jan 2012), is a captivating story of an ordinary bartender who’s changing the world through clean water.
Doc now implements a mandatory filter build alongside his speaking. Audiences are given the chance to not only learn about the work Wine to Water accomplishes and the origin of the cause, they are also given the chance to impact the Global Water Crisis in a personal way. By building filters, attendees become part of an experience that goes far beyond a single event. The filter build experience brings unique value to each and every participant!

Keynote Topics Include:
• Motivation
• Inspiration
• Innovation
• Teamwork
• ‘Give Back’
• CNN Hero
• Author