Hi friends!

So, I'm now 24 years old and since nothing "big" usually happens on your 24th birthday I decided to make it "big" with this "Donate Your Birthday" campaign through charity: water (also, they are just a sweet charity to donate to).

My goal is to raise $724.24 which is enough to help get 24 people clean drinking water. If you have a little extra cash laying around or if you are simply feeling extra generous today, I encourage you to donate $0.24, $2.40, $24.24, or any amount you want to.

I don't know how many of you have heard of charity: water, but they are an incredible charity that has already funded over 21,000 water projects around the world that will lead to over 6.4 million people getting clean water. They use a creative model that allows every publicly donated dollar to be used on water projects while private donors fund all of the behind the scenes work, salaries, and office supplies. If you want to learn more I encourage you to check out their website or you can listen to this Robcast (Rob Bell podcast) to learn more about the guy who started it:

https://robbell.podbean.com/e/episode-29-water-for-everyone-the-scott-harrison-interview/

Also, you can listen to this:

http://www.theliturgists.com/podcast/2016/11/29/suffering-part-3

Over Christmas break my family and I had our water pump go out for about a day and a half. Even in that short time period it became painfully obvious how dependent we are on water for so much more than just staying alive. Even flushing the toilet uses about 3.6 gallons of clean water (for older toilets) per flush. Although many of us are aware of the privilege we live in, this served as a great reminder of just how "normal" instant access to clean water has become for myself.

Millions of people, mostly women and children, around the world spend a majority of their day collecting water (usually not clean). It is impossible to gain an education or even work a consistent job when clean water is not readily accessible.

Any effort to bring clean drinking water to those who do not have it is also an effort to educate, empower, and employ them.