My mom's friend did this for her birthday, and I thought it was such a great idea I wanted to do it too.

I'm turning 8 years old on March 27 and instead of asking for gifts, I'm asking for $20 or more from everyone I know. It's not going to me, though. All of it is going to build freshwater projects for people in developing countries.

Almost a billion people in the world are living without clean water -- but how much are they really living? Millions contract deadly diseases from contaminated water. 30,000 people will die this week alone. The lucky ones won't, but still have to walk hours each day to get dirty water for their families. And many times, the ones doing the walking are kids like you and me.

My birthday wish this year is to give clean and safe drinking water to some of the billion people living without it.

The best part: 100% of all donations go directly toward water projects. And about 18 months after this campaign ends, charity: water will show us where and how every dollar we raised ended up helping in the field. We'll see GPS coordinates, photos and more details about the communities we've impacted.

Please join me!