OK, so, here’s the deal . . .

According to Google Analytics, the vast majority of my readers live in the United States.  The rest of you live in Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Asia.  After that, there are one or two of you who hail from smaller – but nonetheless well-developed – locales.  Point is, despite the crap we deal with day-in and day-out, we’re pretty fortunate people.  We surf on our computers hooked up to the interwebs while we sip our mocha lattes and fiddle with our iPhones.  But there are people in poorly developed countries whose living conditions are worse than that woman on Hoarders who was unaware of the dead cat buried amidst her filth.

I know we hear this stuff all the time.  We see the poverty and despair on the news and in commercials, and – after a while – it just becomes “noise”.  We’re oblivious to it.  We know this crap is out there, but with so many people begging for your money it becomes  hard to discern the real charities from the shysters.  Eventually we tune it all out.

However, every once in a while you hear about a charity that is doing something really cool in a unique way . . .

I’d like you to do me a favor.  If you’ve got a few minutes, check out Charity: Water.  They’re an organization raising money to provide fresh, clean drinking water to underdeveloped communities.  In fact, here’s an awesome video from the organization’s founder discussing its mission:

The story of charity: water – The 2009 September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.

• 100% of the money donated goes towards water projects. Private donors take care of all overhead.
• $20 provides 1 person clean water for 20 years.
• If you give, charity: water will keep you up-to-date with the status of your project, provide you with GPS coordinates of exactly where the well you contributed to is being built, and take pictures and video along the way.

So here’s where it gets kind of cool:  30 bloggers (including myself) have decided to join together to help raise $30,000 for Charity: Water during the month of September (at the time of this writing we’ve raised $4,600).  Here are just a few ways you can help us out:

GIVE.  $20 will provide one person with clean drinking water for 20 years.

SPREAD THE WORD.  If you’ve got a few moments, please help spread the word on your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

BLOG IT UP.  If you have a blog, why not join in and help us raise the money?  Just make sure to direct your readers to this link:  http://mycharitywater.org/30 so we can keep track of what we’ve raised.

There are some other fun ways to help donate to the cause, but I’ll discuss those options in a future blog post.

Guys, I know it gets old hearing people preach at you to donate to their charity of choice.  I’m not in the business of guilting people into giving.  If you’ve got the funds to help us raise money for this charity, then that’s rad.  If you don’t, that’s still rad.  If you have the time and desire to help us get the word out, then high five.  If not, we can still be friends.

Thanks so much for reading!  I’ll be sure to keep you posted on the donation drive’s progress!

P.S.  Today’s comic will be posted as soon as I get home from work!

- Wes

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