My birthday is almost here. I'm not excited about getting older, but nonetheless this year I'm really thankful to have lived another happy, healthy year.

I don’t usually ask for presents, but this year I’ve decided to ask all my friends and family again to donate to charity: water and give clean water to people who need it, instead of giving me gifts.

Did you know that almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water? Every day, 5,000 kids die from water-related illnesses before they reach their fifth birthday. 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.

For many of you this is not the first time I ask of this from you on my birthday. I'm asking for my age (24) in dollars (or more) from everyone I know. 100% of the money raised will directly fund clean water projects in developing countries. charity: water will show us exactly which projects we funded once they've been fully completed (which takes about 18 months). That means we'll know the locations and names of the communities we helped.

So for those of you who were so amazing and donated last year, THANK YOU!! And if you are wondering what happened with that, it’s in the process. The money has been sent to communities in need and we will be receiving a full report with photos and GPS coordinates within the next 6 months so we can see the impact we made. I can’t wait to share that with you!

For those of you who didn’t donate for whatever reason last year, I forgive you and am giving you a second chance to redeem yourselves ☺

I’m aiming higher this year, although I didn’t reach my goal last year- it just makes this year's campaign that much more important. My birthday pledge last year was my first experience with charity: water, and since then I have been more involved and have gotten to see the life-changing (literally) work that they do. Just this past December, we organized a fundraiser gala that raised over $3.5 Million (all the money went to fund the water projects).

I can't stress how far your donation can go (no matter how small it can make an impact)! So PLEASE donate and make my birthday this year even better than the last!

Thank you.

Love,
Sura