I already feel incredibly thankful for the past year. I'm anticipating the next with gratitude for the opportunity and promise it presents.

So I'm giving my birthday up.

My birthday wish this year is not for more gifts I don't need; it's to give clean and safe drinking water to some of the billion people living without it.

I mean, I down a gallon of water every day and voluntarily exercise. I often don't think about the fact that many have to run, walk or if they are "lucky" bike, push, pull, and lift just to get their water.

So I'm donating my birthday as a reminder of that simple fact, in hopes that, instead of gifts to me -- or "happy birthday"s on my Facebook page -- my friends and family will donate whatever they can to build freshwater projects for people in developing countries.

Almost a billion people in the world are living without clean water and millions contract deadly diseases from contaminated water. 30,000 people will die this week alone. The lucky ones won't, but still have to walk hours each day to get dirty water for their families.

The best part: 100% of all donations go directly toward water projects. And about 18 months after this campaign ends, charity: water will show us where and how every dollar we raised ended up helping in the field. We'll see GPS coordinates, photos and more details about the communities we've impacted.

Please join me.