If you are reading this, you probably don't worry about clean water. Many of us have no idea what it's like to be thirsty or to not have access to clean water. We have plenty of clean water to drink—even the water in our toilets is clean!

Currently, approximately 771 million people in the world live without access to clean water—down from 785 million. Fifteen years ago, it was more than 1 billion! We’ve made amazing progress as a global community, but we still have plenty of important work to do together. Around the world, men, women and children still need access to safe, clean water (that's nearly 1 in 10 people worldwide!). This negatively impacts their health, keeps children from attending school, and traps millions of people in a cycle of poverty. For more information: The Numbers Are Improving

We are launching this campaign during Women's History Month to highlight that for hundreds of millions of people, being born female means that their life revolves around collecting water. It's a burden that limits opportunities, jeopardizes safety, and steals time—approximately 200 million hours a day worldwide. In Africa alone, women spend 40 billion hours a year walking for water! For more information: Women & Water

However, this all changes when solutions to access safe water are implemented.

For our sixteenth water campaign, we continue to focus on valuing water—what water means to people, its true value, and how we can better protect this vital resource. Water is our most precious resource, and we must balance all of society’s water needs, while ensuring the most vulnerable people don’t get left behind.

Since 2014, we’ve created Second Life fund-raisers through Charity: Water because we believe safe water is necessary for life. Whoever you are, wherever you are, water is a basic human right. We feel so strongly that we donate all proceeds from Second Chance activities to provide clean water to those in need.

Periodically, depending on the campaign, we contribute all funds to Charity: Water, which provides aid to water projects all over the world. You will even be able to track the project(s) that you have supported.

Our past SL campaigns have collected over USD$5,500 (or over L$1m). All of these funds were donated to water projects in Cambodia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda, Niger, Mali, Mozambique, Madagascar, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. Completed projects have impacted almost 3,000 people. Our virtual fund-raising is having a tangible impact on real people!

WAYS YOU CAN HELP
• Educate yourself and others about the global water crisis. This costs you nothing (except your time) and contributes immensely to raising awareness about the issues.
• Donate L$ at the Second Chance Donation locations. Every drop counts!
• Donate what you, friends and family are able directly at our Charity: Water campaign website.
• Start a clean water campaign in your own geographic area. Charity: Water resources make it easy to have a real impact on this issue.

We know there are a lot of worthy charities out there, but the water crisis is something we can help solve. We hope you agree and show your support by buying items at Second Chance, giving whatever items or amount you can to support our efforts, and telling others about the water crisis.

For every $40 (about L$9,500) that we raise, Charity: Water can give someone access to safe water for years to come. Their past contributions have funded over 90,000 projects that have impacted almost 15 million people in 29 countries.

Together, we can change lives through something as basic as water because CLEAN WATER CHANGES EVERYTHING!

Denise Infinity, Friends &
Crusaders of Clean Water @ Second Life
#charitywater