There are one billion people on the planet without access to the things you and I take for granted even on our worst day. One of these most basic needs is clean drinking water. One billion people live without it. That's one in eight of us. Unsanitary water conditions cause eighty percent of all disease and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Ninety percent of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions are children under five years old. CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEARS OLD. Many of these diseases are preventable. Maybe you've seen my tongue in cheek tweets to actress Kristen Bell on twitter, and if you have maybe you've also seen the tweets about Charity: Water, the organization that I learned about from her twitter statuses. Kristen recently donated her birthday to raise $30,000 to help fund clean water projects in under privileged nations around the world. It was her act that inspired me to research this organization and its campaign. Upon sharing that with a friend, they replied with a sarcastic jest alluding to the belief that such acts are reserved for celebrities with enough residual influence that the act itself becomes something more of a form of press rather than honest charity work. I don't believe that. I believe that in a world built on capitalism and excess, fame doesn't dictate what kind of person you are, but rather the kind of person you are dictates what you would do with the influence of fame. More importantly than that, you don't have to be famous to make an impact. I still believe that one person can make a difference. One tiny human being in a sea of billions can change the world. Gandhi once said - he who saves one life saves the world entire- I'm part of a generation that writes, speaks, blogs, tweets, sings, screams, and shouts about real, tangible change. I am taking an opportunity to engage in it, and I would like to ask and challenge you to do the same. I am just one dude. Nothing more than a singer of songs, with no real influence at all. But I believe in making a difference. For quite some time I have felt it hard pressed on my heart: the need to live up to the words we speak, and to the values and beliefs we so boldly claim to have. I have started this campaign to raise 2,000 dollars by December 31st of 2010 to help fund clean drinking water for families and kids no older than my kid brother. Jesus said "If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." (Matthew 10:42)

Feel free and encouraged to help.

I know. You, me, we all have needs. I understand. But what if we resolved to put someone else's needs above our own? Just this once. Just for a good cause.

Like I said, I am just one dude, who you may or may not know. And I have nothing to offer you as incentive to help someone else that you have never met, but I'd still like to offer this: Since my junior year in High School, I have been growing the dreads you see in every photograph of me posted anywhere on the internet, and for six actual years, those dreads have been the longest relationship I have ever engaged in. Help me reach this goal of raising $2,000 to help fund clear drinking water in developing nations by December 31st of 2010, and I will part with my dreadlocks. I will shave them completely off. You can shave them for me if you would like. We will make an event out of it. You will be invited. Maybe you've seen them. Maybe you want one. Maybe you don't. Maybe you think they look dumb and you'll be glad to see them go. Maybe you don't care, and I'm no one to tell you that you should, but at least we can become the change we are always talking about, save someone's life, and have us some fun at a sweet hair cutting party. You don't have to give much. You don't have to give at all. But maybe you want to, and maybe you can. And maybe this is the kind of thing you've always said you'd do. Let's change someone's life for the better. For ever.