Next Wednesday I will turn 50 years old.

I feel incredibly blessed. I've got an amazing husband, three great kids and some of the best friends a girl could ask for.

This year, I want to use my 50th birthday to pay it forward and support a nonprofit called charity: water.

For my birthday -- instead of gifts -- I'm hoping you'll consider donating to charity:water.

Charity:water builds water wells to help people who don’t have clean water in their country or area.

My goal is to raise $5,000 for my 50th birthday.

One in nine people don't have access to the most basic of human needs-- clean water. It's hard to fathom about 663 million people living without something so basic that we take for granted every day. Every day, about 1,400 kids die from water related illnesses before they reach their 5th birthday.

Access to clean water means education, income and health - especially for women and kids.

No gift is too small and I can promise you your money will be well spent.

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.

To kick things off, I made the first donation. Please join me in helping provide clean water to those who need it.

With gratitude, Christina

P.S. Here is a link to a video if you'd like to know more about this organization. It’s an inspiring story. https://cwtr.org/watchthespring