Amanda Ferguson

Amanda lost her brother Bill to heat exposure in 2013. After dirt biking with friends, Bill became lost in the Arizona desert on a 115 degree day. Amanda was 22 at the time and struggled to navigate through her grief.

Six years later, Amanda decided to get involved and do something productive with the grief from losing Bill. She asked family and friends to donate $5 to buy cases of water for a local water drive. To her surprise, she ended up with 5 pallets of water stacked in her garage in 2019.

Since then, Amanda has leaned into this advocacy work and using her brother's story to help protect others, provide awareness, and bring heat relief all throughout the Phoenix Valley area. She created Bottles For Bill, a 501c3 nonprofit that hosts fundraisers, interviews with the media, volunteers time, and brings the community together to support the cause. In six years, Bottles For Bill has distributed over 266,000 bottles of water to those vulnerable to extreme heat.

Losing Bill was a life-changing moment for Amanda. Each day she works to balance her grief with giving back and hoping to prevent other families from experiencing a similar loss.