This year I'm turning 28. We wanted to celebrate all the changes that have happened in the last year in our lives by helping to bring change to the 1/6th of the world that doesn't have clean water.

charity: water is also celebrating their fifth birthday, and has already helped 2 million people get access to safe water. But this year, they want to accelerate their impact by purchasing a new drilling rig and the equipment it takes to dig even more wells for villages in need.

So to help, I'm giving up my birthday gifts and asking for $28 from everyone I know. 100% of the money will fund the equipment to drill wells for people in northern Ethiopia.

That's not all -- charity: water will mount a GPS device to drilling rig we fund -- so we'll be able to follow it from village to village once the work gets under way!

Two years ago I gave up my birthday for charity:water and some of you gave to my campaign then too. The money you gave two years ago went to fund clean water for the Adikokob Elementary School in Ethiopia. You can check out the project here: http://www.mycharitywater.org/p/myprojectsview?project_id=ET.GOH.Q4.09.048.230

Join me! To make an even bigger impact David and I will be matching all the donations that come in -- each drilling rig we help buy can help bring clean water to 80 new villages each year, and help 40,000 people get clean water!

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Update:

Thanks so much to everyone who has given so far!! Because we blew our first goal out of the water (and we're still expecting another match to arrive any day now) we've updated our goals and have decided to run a 5K in December if we reach our new goal of $5,000!!!

We're also making thankyou bells for everyone who donates that we'll wear while we run the race - and while we train!!! We'll be mailing them out after the race is over so you'll get keep it forever and remember how much you helped change lives in the Tigray province.

Check our blog for more updates!
http://ribbonsforgrace.blogspot.com

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Update: The campaign is closed now! Thanks for all your donations and support. If you find yourself here and still want to donate, go ahead and donate to the main September campaign!