Charity Spotlight- Charity Water

Do you remember when you were a kid and getting $5 in your birthday card was like winning the lottery. If you got $20, that could essentially last you forever. I think I could buy an entire outfit for $20 and now I couldn’t even buy half a pair of jeans for that amount (and I am frugal!). Maybe our tastes have become more costly or things cost more, probably both, either way somewhere along the way $20 lost its value. In fact, I can’t even fill up my gas tank for that anymore. Well, I found a way to turn back the inflation clock and restore the value of $20. More on that in a moment, first let me tell you a little about water.

The worst water I have ever drunk probably came from a hose. The water was in fact the same as the water that comes from the faucet but drinking it from a hose gives a rustic, less appealing feel to it. In most metropolitan areas, it is rare to find a household that drinks out of the tap, because of the horrid taste. Bottled water is a huge industry and people are willing to pay extra for the freshest tasting water i.e. Fiji. In addition to drinking it we go through hundreds of gallons a day in the bath, washing dishes,  and doing laundry to name a few. We take it for granted as we know it will pretty much always be there. Simply turn on a faucet and without thinking we may let tons of it wash down the sink while we  brush our teeth. Water has never been a luxury in  my life, until now. Water is necessary to survival and so in many cases people will drink any form of it just to be able to have a drink. Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of diseases and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Enter Charity Water. Charity Water is an organization founded by the truly inspiring Scott Harrison with a goal to provide clean drinking water to countries who do not have any. Many families wait in line for 8 hours for a chance to get water, carry 40+ pound containers on their backs to take it home, and travel several miles in order to provide water for their families. Many times it is the children who do this job which prevents them from going to school and often leaves them with severe postural problems where they are left hunched over. Children fight for water with cows who drink out of the same murky hole complete with dead bugs and outrageous amounts of bacteria.

There is no proper bathing, afterall you can’t get clean from dirty water which leaves many, especially girls, feeling very insecure. Children are left with devastating tumors, flesh-eating bacteria, and cleft palates due to all the bacteria and disease ingested from drinking the water.

Through Charity Water’s efforts and the labor of people in the villages, people are finally getting clean water through the use of wells and other forms of filtration methods. Which brings me back to that meaningless 20 bucks. $20 will provide clean drinking water for one person for 20 years. Talk about value! What we easily spend on a night out to dinner, can change someones life for 20 years and beyond!

You can help. We are sponsoring a campaign with a goal to raise $1000 in 90 days. 100% of public donation goes to fund clean water projects. In a few months we will be able to see the well we contributed to via GPS and Google mapping. Even more we will know we changed the lives of several families forever. Help us provide the luxury of water to people who really need it. Click here to donate to our campaign. Any amount will change a life. Let’s see how fast we can round up $1000!

“For me, charity is practical. It’s sometimes easy, more often inconvenient, but always necessary. It’s the ability to use one’s position of influence, relative wealth and power to affect lives for the better. charity is singular and achievable.” -Scott Harrison, founder of Charity Water