Doc Hendley

Doc Hendley is President/Founder of the organization Wine To Water, for which he was named a "CNN Hero." 

In 2003, he dreamed up the concept of his organization while bartending and playing music in nightclubs around Raleigh, NC. In February 2004, the first fundraiser was held for what would one day be Wine To Water and by August of that same year Hendley was living in Darfur, Sudan installing water systems for victims of the government supported genocide. Putting his life in peril, along with those on his team who were committed to providing clean water for the world, two of which were killed during this period, Hendley returned home with an even stronger sense of the need of clean water around the globe.

When Hendley returned home in August 2005, after spending a year in Darfur, the haunting memories of what he had seen in Darfur drove him to continue building the organization he started two years prior.  In 2007, after working two jobs and volunteering his time for 3 years, Wine To Water became an official 501 (c) (3) and Doc’s dream finally became a reality.  He now has projects in 9 different countries around the world and has saved thousands of lives by providing humanity’s most basic need and right, clean drinking water.