Last weekend I turned 33 and I want to celebrate my birthday differently this year.

I was fortunate enough to get to travel with the charity: water team to Tigray, Ethiopia this year to see the incredible challenges that villages lacking clean water face every day. Clean water is fundamental to health, equality, dignity, productivity, and especially education.

We were also able to see the direct impact charity: water and their local partners have on taking our dollars and turning them into change for these incredible people.

Charity: water is a special organization that I can't say enough good things about. It's run by amazing people with an incredible passion for improving the world around them. Their unique 100% model ensures that every dollar we donate goes directly to helping a village bring clean water to their people.

The money for this campaign will go towards the charity: water September campaign which is focused on helping bring clean water to villages in rural India. You can watch a short, heartfelt film about the program here: http://www.charitywater.org/september/.

I will personally be matching up to $5,000 dollars of donations. So every $100 dollars you donate will count as $200 towards our goal. We are all incredibly fortunate to live the lives that we do. Please help me in improving the lives of people half a world away by bringing them clean water.

You can see the rest of the pictures from our trip to Ethiopia here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsarver/sets/72157633470459499/