Hi family and friends!

Many of us have no idea what it's like to be thirsty. I can't even go three hours without drinking water. It's just such a fundamental resource that we often take for granted.

But many people around the world don’t have even this basic necessity, 663 million people to be precise. That's about twice the population of the United States, just to help you visualize.

The majority of these people live in isolated rural areas (imagine remote areas in Africa, Indian subcontinent, South America and South-East Asia) and spend hours every day walking to collect water for their family, mostly from swamps, which is dirty and infected beyond our imagination. This job is mostly assigned to women and children in the family while the men are the bread winners. Not only does walking for water keep kids out of school or take up time that mothers could be using to earn money, but the water often carries diseases that makes everyone sick and causes thousands of unexplainable deaths, but they really have no choice but to drink that water to quench their thirst.

Every day, about 1,400 children die from diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. But guess what? It doesn’t have to be that way. There are simple solutions like drilled wells, spring protections and BioSand filters that help provide clean water to communities around the world. Access to clean water means education, income and health - especially for women and kids.

This year, I was fortunate to begin my career at one of the youngest yet most agile, impactful and innovative non-profit organizations in the world called charity: water. It's a non-profit organization based in New York that brings clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.
Things I love about their work:
- 100% of public donations go directly to the field to fund water projects (which means even if you give $1, every single penny will land up at a water project point in a developing country). Wondering where office rent or staff salaries come from? We have a separate group of dedicated angel investors, foundations and sponsors who cover the operational expenses of our HQs in NYC.

- Every single project is proved using photos and GPS coordinates on Google Maps. So if you gave money to a particular campaign, you would be able to see the real impact that your donation made once the water project is completed (which typically takes 21 months)

I am turning 23 in a month and after thinking about it hard, I figured that there's nothing really that I want for my birthday this year. Those of you who know me personally also might know that I have struggled with mental illness for over four years, fighting every single day to live. Survival had become my priority and overshadowed everything else. My basic dreams of graduating from college, getting a job, being successful in my career, making my family proud and helping the world had really taken the back seat. I came to charity: water in an extremely precarious situation when I had almost given up on myself. However, in just a few months, this place not only helped me realize my potential, but also reinforced my true passion for philanthropy and humanitarian service. I admire several organizations that are serving the world, but charity: water simply happened to me at the right time and streamlined my efforts when I didn't know where to start in terms of doing my share and making a difference in the world.

Every day I realize that I have the gift of life, a beautiful one that too. But millions of people around the world don't. Therefore, I am pledging my 23rd birthday to raise money for clean water. Please donate to my campaign -- anything you can give is a huge help. If you were planning on getting me a present, please donate that money to my fundraiser instead. If you aren't sure what to give, consider giving a small token amount of $23 (my age!)or even $230 or $2300 if you are feeling generous.

Once again, 100% of your money will be used to build clean water projects, and when they’re complete, charity: water will send us photos and GPS coordinates so we can see the impact of our money.

Thank you in advance for your help and generosity. God bless!