Water Charity

What inspires me to give is not my giving story, but the giving stories of others.
My first adventure contributing to a non-profit organization in a meaningful way was by rallying a team of students to create a short animation for the Make-A-Wish Foundation as a rare resource for parents & children to have hopeful conversations about loss. It was an incredible journey, with many hurdles to overcome, but ultimately we created a beautiful film that showed at the Cannes Film Festival & was up for Oscar consideration. The film continues to inspire me; it's a part of my legacy. How does it feel to give? I think my animation says it best' feels like dancing in a sky full of inspiring clouds.

Now I'm focused on a new journey, one that will take me to a faraway continent to help people that I've never met, in a broad spectrum of ways. I will be traveling to Ethiopia with a grant from the Travel For Good program next October to make a short film about the clean water well that I've been fundraising for via Charity Water. Charity Water was founded by Scott Harrison after giving a year of his life and selling all of his possessions to do a humanitarian trip to Africa. On that trip he had a stark realization, the doctors he traveled with could hardly help the mass crowds showing up to soccer stadiums for care. Many of the weary people having walked 3 weeks just to have the opportunity to see a doctor. The illnesses he saw and the caretakers he met inspired him to dig deeper into what the root cause of so much disease was.

What Scott Harrison discovered was that filthy water was the major culprit contributing to the people's plight there. He witnessed people walking for hours to dirty water holes filled with leeches and germs and then taking that water back to their children. Often the girls we're walking for 4 hours or more just to provide their families with water. These treks caused them to skip school and spend the majority of their time just covering this basic need over and over again. Scott was determined to make a change and when he returned to New York, he crafted the initial ideas behind his foundation Charity Water. 10 years later Charity Water just celebrated and amazing anniversary having provided 6.3 million people with clean water so far. I am thrilled to be fundraising to be a part of that change and to eradicate the water crisis in the world with this outstanding charity.

I love languages. Art is a language. Music is a language. Film is a language. Each one designed to speak to your heart. recently I learned an amazing Hebrew word: Ahava. It means to love, but specifically, 'I will give.' I think the best use of my creativity is to help people have better lives. I give for the opportunity to make the world a better place in some small way. To have a voice' to multiply happiness: my happiness and others' happiness. What I realized along the way was I need less and I want to give more. I think the most important thing is: What story will they tell about your giving heart? What inspires me to give is the possibility of creating new exponential opportunities by inspiring others to give through my giving story.

I have been thoroughly impressed with Water Charity expansive reach and the low cost in which they are able to complete projects. Their innovative approach of using vetted Peace Corp Volunteers to direct their project is revolutionary and really helps cut down on cost helping them to complete more than 2,600 water, sanitation and public health projects in 67 countries, benefiting nearly 2.5 million people so far.

This is really impressive for a small organization. I have also been highly impressed with their transparency and the sustainability of the projects. Again having those Peace Corp volunteers on the ground really helps to make sure the projects are maintained and monitored, which seems to be an area where many other water charities are lacking.

I had the opportunity to direct a project in Jamaica, where Water Charity partnered with my non profit, Sol Adventurers Foundation to fund a rain water catchment for youth at Sister Jackie's House of Love, a children's home. Through Water Charity we were able to bring much needed clean, filtered rainwater to the youth and staff. This project has helped provided clean drinking water, water for bathing, cooking, washing clothes and so much more. Thanks again Water Charity.

It also has been really fun teaching my 2 year son about geography through finding the locations of all the different countries where Water Charity does projects in his map book and globe. He loves seeing the pictures of youth in different countries getting access to clean water and bathrooms. It has inspired him to want to visit these countries and is teaching him the importance of clean water and hand washing. Water Charity is inspiring youth in ways they don't even know.

I have been so impressed with all the projects in so many different countries around the world. This organization is really making a difference in this world. Keep up the amazing work, Water Charity!

Water Charity does a ton of small, immediate and effective projects. They operate in nearly 70 countries and work closely with the Peace Corps.

Due to their unique model, no overhead, and volunteer administrations, they are the most efficient charity of any sort I have ever seen... by far. They get more done with $500 than other organizations do with $10,000. They actually can complete an entire well-drilling project for $500!! Try and find any other hydrophilanthropic organization that can come even close to that. Most of them spend 10x that amount on their reviewing and assessment phase. WC actually designs, funds, and completes most of their projects in about a month start to finish.

If you want extreme bang for your buck, you need to consider supporting Water Charity. They don't waste your money on expensive PSAs, celebrity photo-ops, or executive salaries... they actually have no paid employees whatsoever. They are a dedicated and awesome bunch. Just look at the work they did in Haiti or Japan.

http://watercharity.org