Family and friends,

As you may or may not know, I turn 40 this year. As I reflect on this milestone I'm extremely lucky to live the life I've lived, have such great friends and a healthy, loving family. It also makes me think of so many others who aren't as lucky. For many, access to drinking water - the most basic human survival need - is a problem, and can often be deadly.

Every day, about 1,400 children die from diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. Countless more spend hours daily walking to gather water, keeping kids out of school and parents from working. As the chore most often falls on women and girls, they bear the brunt of the impact.

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.

I started this fundraising campaign to help charity: water build these types of projects around the world, and I'm looking for anyone who can help me.

For the occasion of my 40th birthday I ask you to please donate to my campaign -- $40 for 40th would be ideal, but anything you can give is a huge help.

Every $1 you give will provide $3 to the campaign as I'm not just asking you to fund this for me. I will match your donation dollar-for-dollar and then my employer will match my donation, thus tripling the impact of your gift. And if you have employer matching we may be able to quadruple your gift.

100% of the money will be used to build clean water projects (angel contributors fund all administrative costs), and when they’re complete, charity: water will send us photos and GPS coordinates so we can see the exact community we helped.

Every dollar you can give will help, and if we can get to $10,000 together it will fund an entire project.