Hey there! I’m Stephen from Northern Virginia. I’m a lawyer by day, but I love singing, playing guitar and spending time with my wife and daughters. I also love water! I'm realizing more and more how incredibly blessed I am to have plenty of it.

I’m also turning 40 this January! In trying to decide how to celebrate this milestone (black balloons??), I came across Charity:Water and read inspiring stories about people giving up their birthdays to raise money to provide clean water in the developing world. I was appalled that 10% of the world's population doesn't have access to clean water, leading to disease and death. I then learned that it costs $40 to provide clean water for one person ($40, 40th birthday, what a coincidence!). So I decided to celebrate by raising enough money for 40 people to have clean water, and I would love for you to join me!

I'm so excited to celebrate in this way because it is an issue where we can make a concrete difference. When the money raised in this fundraiser is deployed, we will literally see the GPS coordinates for where our money goes to and the people we are helping. Plus, it doesn’t stop with clean water: providing clean water is a huge step in empowering women and girls, who disproportionately spend their time gathering water. And it doesn't just impact the people receiving the water. In this polarized time in our country, working together to provide people with clean water is an issue that can unite us and remind us of our common humanity.

If you love water like I do, I hope you’ll join me in donating $40 to celebrate my 40th birthday-- or however much you want! And of course as the host of the party, we celebrate with our guests! So, our family will match your donation up to $1,000, so your donation has twice the impact!

Stay tuned . . . there's going to be some fun updates on this page and on social media! For example, to help raise awareness, our family will be running/jogging/walking a 6K on or near my birthday while I carry a jerry can. RUNNING WATER! A jerry can is a 5 gallon container (which when filled can weigh 40 lbs--another 40, coincidence?) that many people in the developing world use to carry water from their local water source to their homes and 6K is the average distance they walk to do so.

Thank you so much for celebrating with me and sharing the gift of clean water!

Stephen