Well, I don't know if you got wind of this news story, but there's an article on Yahoo today about a girl in Seattle, WA who, for her 9th birthday, didn't want gifts, but instead asked people if they would give her money to donate to this organization that raises money for people in the world in need of clean water. Her goal was to raise $300 by her birthday on June 12th for the non-profit organization called Charity Water to bring clean water to African villagers, but she didn't live long enough to do so.
By her birthday on June 12th, Rachel Beckwith had only raised $220 so she then decided to close her web page. But after she died in a 13-car wreck on I-80, her pastor brought back the page and promoted it on the church website. Since then, there has been a constant feed of donations and comments on her page about her selflessness and how they were inspired and touched by it.
To this point, $585,775 has been raised by her campaign, with 17,037 donors and over 29,000 people recipients are now affected by it (and still counting!). For more detailed information on Rachel's campaign and to see all the comments left on her page, or if you'd like to make a donation to Charity Water through her movement, feel free to visit her web page at this link.
Also, if you'd just like to know more about the Charity Water organization itself and the reasons behind why they do what they do, here is a video that I think was made by the organization themselves that I found on Rachel's page (along with much of this other information in this blog post) that gives you statistics, diagrams, and other animations that will help you better visualize what everyday life is like in these places:
Water Changes Everything. from charity: water on Vimeo.
Isn't it just amazing how just a small amount of money can help SO much?
If you're in any position to donate, I really encourage you to do so. The more money that's donated, the greater amount of people we can save from this horrible crisis!
