Surely you can give up a trip to Starbucks, eat out 1 less time this week, order 1 less pizza, buy 1 less outfit, or splurge a little less on yourself in general if it meant providing water to 1 person for 20 years?

My list to Santa this year is quite different from usual. Rather than Christmas or birthday gifts/cards to me, I ask that my loved ones instead consider donating to this wonderful cause called "charity: water". Any amount will make a difference. No gift is too small. Even forwarding this on to others would be wonderful.

We are all so blessed in so many ways. We all have something we can do without - why not? Millions of others do without it and "survive" on much less. Be grateful for what you do have. Don't dwell on what you don't have - count your blessings and realize things could be much worse.

In celebration of my 37th birthday, my goal is to raise at least $370 to help build wells in developing nations. For every $20 I raise, one person will have water for the next 20 years! That's clean and safe water to drink, to cook with, to bath in, to do laundry, etc. The cool thing about charity: water is that they spend 100% of the money I raise directly on the water projects. Even better, when projects are complete, every dollar is tied to village and all the wells are posted on Google Earth.

Water is a given for us, but for a billion people on the planet, it's not. Millions of women and children have to walk hours each day to get water from muddy ponds and rivers. This is time that they could otherwise spend attending school or working to bring in money for their family. And much of that water is infested with parasites and leeches. In fact, 80% of all diseases in the world are caused by unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation.

Here I thought I was doing the world a favor by turning off the tap when I brushed my teeth.

Have you ever said, "I'm dying of thirst?" If so, I bet you didn't really mean it. I've never actually been dying of thirst. And if you're like me, you'd like to see a world where no one does.

You can donate here online (with check or credit card) or directly to me. I'm looking for anyone that can help. If you can at least forward this onto others that would be a gift in itself.

I hope that you can join me.

Kelly

"The best way to find yourself, is to get lost in the service of others" ~ Mahatma Gandhi