Listening to one of my favorite podcasts last summer (link below) a special guest was on to tell his story of personal transformation from 10 years as a party promoter in NY to creating and leading an organization whose sole mission is to bring clean water to rural communities all over the world. To date, they’ve built over 23,000 wells serving over 7 million people. There was so much energy in listening to someone leave behind a life that wasn't working for them, take a big risk to engage in the unknown to find their way to be of service in such an exacting and impactful way.

Water collection is a woman’s issue, with women and girls spending hours everyday walking to collect water, in unsafe conditions, commonly for dirty water. On the podcast you will hear a story of a new well being put into a village and one woman who couldn’t stop weeping as the water came gushing out, when asked if she was okay - that this was a happy day - she told them, “I can’t believe I have walked my whole life for water when it was under my feet the whole time.” With a new well women get their lives back: girls can go back to school, they don’t have to stay home one week out of every month for their menstruation, women can start businesses, and improve their home.

I knew right away that I wanted to "donate my birthday" the following year to help even more people gain access to clean water and have freedom from easily avoidable deadly diseases. With clean water we could save over 16,000 lives a week. It's simple, I'm turning 35, so please consider donating a dollar for every year I've been alive as I aim to raise $3,500, (and thankfully drinking plenty of clean water).

I WANT TO SWEETEN THE DEAL, anyone making a contribution of $100 will enter a raffle to WIN ONE OF MY PAINTINGS! (16 x 16 inches, shipping included, you will get 2-3 options upon winning to choose from) June 15th I will select a name randomly - yes out of a hat, how exciting!

Listen to the founders story while you commute around : https://soundcloud.com/the-bill-simmons-podcast/ep-101-scott-harrison

Some info from charity:water...

“Many of us have no idea what it's like to be thirsty. We have plenty of water to drink -- even the water in our toilets is clean!

But many people around the world don’t have that luxury. Every day, about 1,400 children die from diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are simple solutions like drilled wells, spring protections and BioSand filters that help provide clean water to communities around the world.

Please consider donating to my campaign -- anything you can give is a huge help.

100% of the money will be used to build clean water projects, and when they’re complete, charity: water will send us photos and GPS coordinates so we can see the exact community we helped. Donations are tax-deductible.”

If you got through reading all this, I adore you, and hope you find the inspiration I have found in knowing that we can share what we have to make the lives of others safe and free through something as simple as clean water. Thank you.