Greetings to my beautiful, intelligent, marvelous, breathtakingly splendid family and friends!

I would love to invite you all to participate in my EPIC BIRTHDAY MISSION! For my 25th birthday, which will be on September 26, I want to raise money to give 15 people a fundamental right--clean drinking water for life!

~ For your participation, I can offer you a myriad of mind-blowing benefits. ~

1) You won't need to come up with some obscure birthday present for me. I will EVEN make you exempt from wishing me "Happy Birthday" on Facebook!
2) You will buy yourself happiness! This is no gimmick, either. This is objective, peer-reviewed Truth. See this TED talk for more details: http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_norton_how_to_buy_happiness.html
3) MOST IMPORTANTLY: Every penny of your money will directly fund clean water projects in India!

WHY INDIA?

Lack of sanitation. Nearly 65% of all open defecation in the world occurs in South Asia. The widespread lack of sanitation can lead to contaminated water, illness and disease.

Gender inequality. Women often bear the burden of collecting water. This prevents them from earning an income and sometimes keeps young girls out of school.

Exclusion and discrimination. The caste system is the world’s longest-surviving social heirarchy. A person’s caste is determined from birth and cannot be changed. The lowest members of society, known as Dalits, or “untouchables,” are often denied many basic rights including access to clean water.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

First: We raise money. How much? It's simple...if it feels too low, give more. If it feels too high, give less. Even $1 makes a dent, and I will be grateful for every penny that comes from your heart! :-D

Next: Every family receives the same high quality solution in their home.

Each family builds a latrine and bathing room near their home. Then the entire community joins together to construct a water tower in the center of the village. Once all the work is done, an organization called Gram Vikas comes in to drill a well and pipe water (with three taps!) to every household.

After the campaign, charity: water will show us EXACTLY which projects we funded once they've been fully completed (which takes about 18 months). That means YOU will know the exact locations and names of the communities we helped!

BOTTOM LINE: If we raise $300, we can give 15 people clean drinking water. Not too shabby, eh?

Even $1 will help. I'm grateful for YOUR help to make this the most epic birthday ever. :-)