My birthday is almost here. I learned from my Mom to always tell people, "I don't want any gifts for _____." Frustrating, right? For the most part I've always known how important water scarcity/quality has been and the role access plays in all of our lives. When I think of access I think of what's happening to Lake Champlain where increased development and fertilizers are destroying one of our greatest treasures. What's happened in VT pales in comparison to the fact that millions of people around the world don't live to see their fifth birthday because they don't have access to clean, safe drinking water. We can help change that and it's exactly what I want for my birthday this year.

I'm asking for my age in dollars from everyone I know. Every penny of the money raised will directly fund clean water projects in developing countries. Even better, 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.

Help me reach my goal. Please donate to my birthday campaign!