Hendley shares passion for service

Homecoming keynote speaker Doc Hendley said he never imagined he would be back on campus to share his story of how he started ‘Wine to Water'.

But the 2004 alumnus was back in Talley Student Center Wednesday night, discussing the idea he conceived in his final semester as a way to create clean water systems in some of most impoverished countries in the world.

And today, at noon, he'll be back on the Brickyard just as he was five years ago. Except he'll be speaking at a rally in his honor as one of ten nationally honored "heroes" for CNN's Hero of the Year award.

"It's a different feeling coming back. It's absolutely amazing and I am honored.  I used to be another face, another name no one knew," Hendley said. "It's important for people to know that there is nothing special about me- middle of the row, just average.  Water is just my passion."

Hendley traveled a lot in his early life and decided to return to college in 2004 where he bartended while finishing school with a public and interpersonal communications degree.

Hendley began piecing together an idea just before he graduated. He said he was floored to discover that unclean water is the number one killer among children in the world.

Hendley said he combined the knowledge he had from bartending with his passion of creating clean water in impoverished countries and held a wine tasting to raise money in hopes of alleviating some of the suffering countries experienced because of the death rate due to unclean water.

After his first wine tasting, he decided to give the money to Samaritan's Purse, since they had a water program of their own and he wanted to make sure an impact was made.

According to Hendley, he told the director of Samaritan's Purse that he wanted the money he raised to go directly to the clean water project, but the request turned into an informal interview, and a few months later he found himself in Darfur.