A Meaningful Birthday

To me, birthdays have never been a huge deal.  While I've always appreciated the cards and gifts that I'd receive (along with the mud pie, strawberry shortcake and ice cream), I've always thought it was a little strange to celebrate something that I had very little to do with.  Celebrate my poor mother who squeezed my melon head through the birth canal. Listen, I understand why we celebrate birthdays, it's just not a big deal to me. The truth is, we get older every day. When I turned 18, I probably had track practice - just like when I turned 16 - and I didn't get my license because I was still taking the driver's ed.  When I turned 21, I came up from Portland and had a few friends come to my folks house.  Many birthdays as an adult have been spent at parent conferences.  A handful of times my bday has coincided with Easter, which is cool because that is a worthy reason to celebrate.  Most birthdays usually involve getting together with my family and having some cake.  Nothing big or extravagant, and certainly no traveling. Cortney threw me my first surprise party when I turned 38 and it was perfect.  A couple friends, and like always, my fam (which includes her fam now too).  All that to say that you can celebrate yours however you like; this year will be different for me.

I turned 39 last March which means a few things: I'm obviously getting older (I swear I was just in my 20s), I should be getting more mature and wiser, and the next birthday is a biggie.... 40!  Instead of doing the norm, I want to do something different.  Some people want a party, some want a star to be named after them, some want a new chainsaw or car or whatever the case may be - I want a well.  I'm going to build a well.  Well, not actually dig and build a well, but fund the digging and building of a well in a place that needs it badly.  Maybe Africa.  Maybe South America.  Maybe Asia.  The location is irrelevant to me.  Where there is water, there is life.  Water changes everything.

Some simple points to bring some meaning to the plan:

• 4,500 kids die every day from diseases related to drinking dirty water.  Think of it like this - diarrhea is a big child-killer in places where clean water doesn't exist.  Death by dehydration.  The only way to battle dehydration is to drink more of the dirty water that got them sick to begin with.  It's a cycle that doesn't have to exist. 
• Many schools in poor/underdeveloped communities don't have clean water or bathrooms.  This has obvious ramifications but a real simple one is that teenage girls miss school a week out of the month, every month, because they are unable to take care of their cycles.
• The gathering of water is typically done by women and they walk as much as 8 hours a day to do so - only to get as much as they can carry (up to 5-6 gallons typically, which is heavy!).  Then they have to decide what to do with that (dirty) water once it is home. Drink it? Prepare food with it?  Clean their clothes or bathe?  Water their plants/garden?  Five gallons is one flush of the toilet for us.
• Trekking such distances for poor water is dangerous as well.  The further away from the village one goes, there is an increase of animal attack, theft, rape and murder.  All this just so they can get a few jugs of dirty water that could potentially kill them anyway....

Where there is clean water, there is improved health and quality of life.  Where there is clean water, there is education.  Where there is clean water, there is agriculture.  Where there is clean water, there is commerce.  Where there is clean water, there is dignity.  Where there is clean water, THERE IS LIFE.  This is what WE can help provide to people desperately needing it.  Can you imagine what the 25 year old mom can do with the 8 hours she now has because she doesn't have to walk every day for 6 gallons of water???  What a gift! 

It costs $10,000 to build a well and that's my goal.  I'm donating my birthday to Charity: Water. I've researched the charity and it is incredible (I encourage you to look them up too). 100% of the donations go right to the well.  So I'm asking if you will donate $40 for my 40th.  I've never raised money like this before and 10k seems like a lot.  That's why I'm starting 10 months out.  If 250 people/families donate $40, BAM, there's a well.  I know 250 people and you are one of them.  I'm hoping that on March 27th, 2017, I can transfer $10,000 out of my PayPal account and drop it into Charity: Water - and then they send me the location of the well via GPS and Google Earth and WE can see how WE have changed the lives of a village or an area.  Sounds cool right?  Give according to your means and partner with me on this opportunity to do something life-changing to a community.  Let's do this!