Our friend Cubby and his beard have been fundraising for a while. You might remember the first time we blogged about it here.

A few days ago, Cubby launched another twist to his incredibly creative campaign: the TOOTHPICK BEARD CONTEST. If you can guess how many toothpicks are in his beard, you’ll win a box packed full of charity: water gear. Enter the contest by donating to one of his two campaigns below — and while you’re making a donation, write your guess in the comments box.

Watch the video (our favorite part is at 2:45)

Donate to one of Cubby’s two campaigns below:

UPDATE: Our team went out to far Rockaway on Saturday, November 10 to deliver all the supplies you generously donated. The drop-off center is now closed, but we’ll post a list of other ways you can help soon.

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In the next few days, we’re collecting necessary items from residents of NYC and delivering them to families hardest-hit by Hurricane Sandy. The drop-off center opens TODAY, NOVEMBER 6 at 10:00 AM., and we need your help. If you are able to donate any of the following items, please drop them off at the location below.

LOCATION:
Soho Grand Hotel
310 West Broadway
New York, NY 10013

DROP OFF TIMES:
10:00AM-7:00PM

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

*All products must be new; gently used clothing.

Socks – wool, thick
Dust masks
Waterproof shoes / rain boots
Gloves – latex
Flashlights
Extension cords
Push brooms
Mops
Batteries (D batteries mainly)
Toilet paper
Cleaning equipment
Heavy duty garbage bags
Baby care products
Baby formula
Diapers
Towels
Blankets
Beanies
Warm woolen clothes
Shovels

We’ve got trucks and drivers who will be transporting these items out to the hardest-hit areas daily. This drop-off location will be open as long as the need for these items is there.

This past week, we’ve had a love/hate relationship with water. In our line of work, more water is usually a good thing. But in the last few days, we saw the devastation caused by the water surge during Hurricane Sandy on the Eastern Seaboard, and were all reminded of the damage water can do. Human beings can’t live without water for more than a few days, but yet a surge of water can destroy everything in its path overnight.

We’d like to share what we’ve been doing and thinking about at charity: water since Sandy hit our shores last week.

Our office and about half of our staff members’ apartments lost power the night that Sandy touched down.

We immediately contacted every one of our staff to make sure they were safe, and thankfully all were. We were encouraged by many of you who reached out to us with your concern. We learned that our office building would be closed for at least a week, and started looking for a place to work. The morning after the storm, we called longtime supporters Lynne and Steve Foote, and asked them if they could help. They said yes, and invited us to set up shop in their living room. They fed us, pumped us full of caffeine, and let our staff take showers for the next four days. We were reminded of the importance of our work when on Tuesday night, we signed an agreement to grant more than $2.6 million to fund water projects in four countries that will help 145,056 people get clean water.

We also learned that the 69th Regiment Armory (where we’ll host our charity: ball gala on December 10) became an active National Guard outpost, with army vehicles and personnel ready to deploy to affected areas.

Images started coming in. We saw the total devastation on the shores, and the many people left homeless. And then, some supporters sent us a photo that hit us hard.

Many people didn’t have running water in their homes, and started opening fire hydrants and filling up Jerry cans and buckets. This shocked us. We never thought we’d see this happen here in our backyard, and the images were almost identical to what we see every day around the world.

What we did to help.

The power came on in our office and most of our homes this weekend, and we’re incredibly thankful for that. We’ve also spent a lot of time thinking of those who’ve lost so much. Many staff and interns got involved personally over the weekend, bringing needed supplies and food to people in the housing projects in Chelsea and the Lower East Side.

Understanding what’s needed going forward.

The biggest confusion for anyone wanting to help so far, has been figuring out what’s needed, how much, and where. This morning, our team met and assigned two key staff members to survey the situation and understand how we can best help our local communities in the days, weeks and months to come. In the next few hours, we’ll post information here on our blog about how and where we’ll be collecting essential items to help victims of the hurricane.

In the meantime, we’d love to acknowledge the outreach efforts of three churches in our area who’ve been driving out to the Rockaways, Staten Island and Jersey Shore with supplies, blankets, batteries and food all week. They kindly allowed us to be a small part of their relief efforts here in the city this weekend. Check them out here:

1. Hillsong NYC
2. DreamCenter
3. Liquid Church

Exactly two days ago, Sandy blasted the East Coast and lower Manhattan full of wind and water and left our Soho office in the dark. Everyone at charity: water is alright, but many members of our team are without electricity, internet or running water. Thankfully, our longtime friends and supporters, Lynne and Steve Foote, have taken us in and allowed their spacious and cozy home to be overrun with power cables, laptops and un-showered charity: water staff.

We’ve set up camp here for the next day or two, and we couldn’t be happier about our temporary office. Lynne and Steve have supported the charity: water mission from year one and have been dear friends. Their daughter Madeleine was our very first intern in 2006, and last year, Lynne came with us to Ethiopia to see the wells she helped build with her mycharity: water birthday campaigns.

This was our first day in our new temporary office, and we have to say, we can definitely get used to this!

We’re so thankful that we’re safe and that we’ll be able to return to our office soon, but we know that many on the East Coast have lost everything, and are sleeping in storm shelters tonight. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with them.

- the charity: water staff

A lot happened at charity: water in 2011, so we put some extra TLC into our 2011 annual report. We also decided that this was the year to go digital, so we made it a website! Read all about the events, milestones and stories that made last year unforgettable. Launch the 2011 Annual Report »