Students hope to bring clean water to others

The massive power outage last week has a team of entrepreneurial teenagers redoubling its efforts to raise money for their project.

Merrimack High School students Jane Starke, Noelle Joubert, Melia Robinson and Julie Phelps are the founders of “Pure Water Vending,” which uses vending-machine proceeds to provide clean drinking water to families in other countries.

The group hopes to win a $10,000 prize in a Best Buy contest by gaining online and text votes. However, the ice storm set back voting for several days, dropping them from fifth to 16th place them from fifth to 16th place out of 30 teams, according to Betsy Abrahams, Starke’s mother. The top 15 teams will receive money to continue and expand their projects.

To support the Pure Water Vending team, you can vote once each day up to Jan. 9 by texting BBYV17 to 32075 or by going to www.genv.net/bestbuy.