For more than seven years, sophomore William Braskamp has volunteered with Paper for Water, a Dallas-based nonprofit that aims to raise funds through origami creations to ultimately provide clean water to underfunded communities around the world.

His journey with this initiative all began with his lifelong passion: origami.

“I found out about Paper for Water through some friends who went to church with the family who started it, and they knew that I was interested in origami,” Braskamp said.

Now, Braskamp serves as president of Paper for Water’s Changemakers Council, the nonprofit’s youth leadership board, where he helps organize events, lead projects and inspire other youth to give back to their communities.

Over the past year, Braskamp has volunteered roughly 250 hours with Paper for Water, marking his commitment to the program.

He recently oversaw a large-scale project where he helped conduct a massive origami installation at the Galleria Dallas.

“(Starting in) April this year, we were working on a massive installation at the Galleria,” Braskamp said. “It was a total of 250 stars. There were a total of 4,000 sheets of paper that had to be folded. I took responsibility for the design and then the folding of some of these stars.”

One of Braskamp’s most memorable experiences at Paper for Water took place two summers ago, when he embarked on a mission trip to the Los Velasquitos village in Guatemala. During the trip, he helped to drill a new well as a gift for the village’s underserved residents.

For Braskamp, being able to see the fruits of his labor firsthand inspired him to further serve his community.

“It was a very typical rural Guatemalan community, and the people were extremely caring,” Braskamp said. “And it was just very special for me to see the realization of all of that work. They were very, very hospitable and very hard working, and to see them be able to get clean water for the first time was incredible.”

Looking ahead, Braskamp hopes to see the nonprofit gain more traction, generate more impact and raise awareness for its cause.

More specifically, he hopes to get youth involved in the mission.

“I hope that we get a little bit more into this involvement, especially building up a solid group of people who are consistently helping,” Braskamp said. “Also, getting a little bit more into youth actually folding origami — I think it’s integral to spreading our message because it’s something that people can see, and they ask questions about it, and they know that it’s interesting and it’s beautiful.”