PITTSBURGH -- At a time when most 18 year olds are focusing on getting through college, a recent Shady Side Academy graduate has launched his own company with help from a few friends.

The goal of the company, which is housed in an office at One Oxford Center in Downtown, is to raise money for charities.

Jordan Pollack, 17, Jess Rudolph, 18, Jay Royston and Ben Lewis are all the creators of PurBlu Beverages.

"I kind of just felt like I looked at the bottled water business and thought what a great business," said PurBlu President Lewis. "Everyone buys it. Everyone needs it. And look how much consumers will pay. And then, I also had this other part of me that said why not take a creative approach and make the world better."

Lewis brainstormed the idea more than two years ago.

Bottles come in different colors, each representing a different charity. For every bottle of water sold, PurBlu collects 10 cents to send to the chosen charity.

If you buy the blue bottle, 10 cents goes to children suffering from poverty and malnourishment.

If you buy the pink, 10 cents will go to women suffering from breast cancer.

Green goes to environmental charity.

"Environmental cognizance is huge," said Royston. "People really care a lot, and we felt like if someone felt inclined to support the environment, that we gave them option to do so."

"We wanted to get three charities that people could identify with," said Pollock. "By picking up this bottle, they know someone who has breast cancer or they want to help the environment. I think people want to do good in general."

"Everybody can find their own cause in what we have," Rudolph said.

The second part of buying PurBlu is online.

You can go to the Web site and tell them which specific charity you would like to support. At the end of every fiscal year, they'll identify the leading organizations.

The bottled water is set to hit store shelves in all four local Coffee Tree Roaster locations and Whole Foods in East Liberty by the end of this week.

"It's what we're all about," said Whole Food Marketing Director Kim Wynnyckyi. "Working with the local folks. It's innovative. Sustainability. The environment. The cause was very important to us."

The young entrepreneurs have other contracts in the pipeline that they are hoping to secure before they head off to college this fall.

PurBlu will sell for about a $1.40 per bottle. Lewis said if sales really take off, they hope to one day donate even more.

Update:

"Last July, whenever we talked, we didn't have much of a plan," said Lewis. "We just had a great idea for a product, a little bit of a vision and then the rest is just kind of history. For the first six months, we were making deliveries out of our car."

Word of the new water spread fast with several media outlets covering the story. In six months, Pittsburghers purchased more than 20,000 bottles, and more than $2,000 was donated to the United Way charity, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Pittsburgh chapter and River Quest in Allegheny County.

"I felt very strongly that the money we raised stay in Pittsburgh based on the fact that we are a local company and that the community has really embraced it," said Lewis.

Grocery chain Whole Foods backed the teens and decided to sell the water in all of its mid-Atlantic stores.

The company will then make donations in those states.

"Give is a movement," said Lewis. "It's not just bottled water, and people are recognizing that. Could be a great year for us, and we could end making much more substantial donations."

For more information, visit www.PurBlu.com.

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