UPDATE: Roosters in Ogden, Utah has donated an awesome prize that I'm going to be giving to someone that donates. The prize includes a $20 gift certificate, a Roosters glass, and 2 Roosters T-Shirts. To enter to win it, donate $5 or more on this page before Thursday, April 25th. You can enter as many times as you want - every $5 that you donate equals 1 entry. So by donating, you will help to bring clean water to people in Ethiopia AND possibly win an awesome prize as well - does it get any better than that? Please leave your email address in the comments box with your donation so I can contact you if you win. :)

UPDATE #2: I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who attended my Give Back Night on April 3rd at Chili's. Between the Harrisville and the Riverdale Chili's, my flyers brought in a total of $711.94 in sales, which means Chili's will be donating $110 to charity: water. They are processing the donation right now, and it should be added to my page soon. THANK YOU again to everyone who was able to go!

For those of you who are on this page because of a flyer or a video you saw, thank you for taking the time to visit! (And for those of you who are here just to get me to stop bugging you about donating, thank you, too. :)

Before I found charity: water, I had never given any serious thought to what my life would be like without access to clean water - but for about 800 million people around the world, contaminated water is a harsh reality they are faced with every day. In developing nations across the world, many villages use open lakes, swamps, and rivers as their main source for water - and not surprisingly, the water they collect is often contaminated and dangerous. This water obviously presents serious health risks to those who drink it, but it also puts those who carry it, often for several miles, in danger. All of the consequences and dangers associated with contaminated water place heavy burdens on families, and in addition to the health risks it carries, it often works to prevent children from attending school and/or parents from earning much needed income to support their families. On average, water-related diseases kill about 4,100 kids - every day.

It is easy to distance ourselves from or ignore problems that don't affect us directly, but I think that because those of us in the United States and other industrialized countries have never had to suffer with this problem, we have an opportunity and an obligation to help. To me, it is unacceptable that despite all of the advancements the world has made, there are still millions of people living without such a basic need. I believe that clean, safe water is a basic human right, and should be available to everyone.

I've pledged my birthday to charity: water, and I am also going to be fundraising until my April 25th deadline. I hope to raise at least $1,000 to help fund a clean water project in Northern Ethiopia, and I sincerely appreciate anyone who is able to help me with this goal. I hope that by more people becoming aware of the water crisis, everyone will someday have access to clean water and access to a better life.

You can watch the videos that my daughter and I made at:
http://youtu.be/vaDq7AWpVno and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rueuP0-QbSw

If you would like to donate, any amount that you can give, no matter how small, will help. 100% of all donated funds will go directly to Ethiopia. If you want to learn more about charity: water or about what they do, go to charitywater.org.

Thanks again for visiting my page!

Amanda