In 2009 my mom went to the Charity: Ball (Charity: Water's Annual Gala) and promised to help ever since. A year and a half later, I was born!

So of course for my FIRST year of life, I'm giving my birthday up.

I don't want any gifts, things I don't really need. I would rather help people with something we all really need: Water.

Almost a billion people in the world are living without clean water -- but how much are they really living? 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.

My parent's birthday wish this year for me, is to give clean and safe drinking water to some of the billion people living without it. And maybe I will grow up to want to make a difference every year.

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.