Happy Birthday to TreeHugger Founder Graham Hill! Give Him What He Wants (UPDATED)
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA 
on 09.26.08
TreeHugger's founder Graham Hill turns 38 tomorrow turned 38 earlier this month. Instead of any gifts, he is asking his friends and family (and now you!) to give a tax deductible donation to Charity:Water in his name. It's a fantastic organization that is drilling wells across Africa and thereby helping lower disease, by increasing access to cleaner water, and poverty, since it reduces the need to haul water for hours each day -- we've covered them last year, too.
Graham has raised $2,400 $4,200 so far, and every dollar he raises will be matched. Each well costs about $4,000 to drill, so he's well above the level needed to drill one well two wells, and he's aiming for more! His hope is that TreeHugger readers can help take this to over $6,000 which, when matched, will equal three wells. Charity:Water is aiming to drill 333 wells in Ethiopia via this campaign.
So help us give Graham what he really wants. All you need is 3 minutes and your credit card; click on over to Charity:Water to get started, and keep reading for more details on their mission and why this project is so important.
Update: Users in the U.S., be sure you put "United States" in the "Country" field -- Charity:Water is a little picky about those things, and it won't work if you try "USA" or some other derivative.
Charity:Water on a mission for clean drinking water in Africa
More than 75% of the people in Ethiopia don't have safe drinking water -- the world's most precious resource and humanity's most basic need. The organization turns two years old in September, and, to celebrate their birthday, they've asked those individuals who are celebrating their own special days to give up birthday presents and ask their friends and family for donations instead. In one month, they hope to raise $1.5 million and build 333 wells in Ethiopia. This will serve 150,000 people with the most basic need, and greatly improve health and quality of life.
They went to 33 communities to see what it was like for themselves. They brought back photos, GPS coordinates and made 33 short films, which you can watch on their site. The good news is, there is safe underground water in every village, and with your help, they can build wells in each of them.
How will drilling wells help?
Clean, safe drinking water is a human being's most basic need. It's the difference between health and disease, prosperity and poverty, and life and death. By supporting the drilling of local water wells, you will help provide clean, safe water for Ethiopians who wouldn't have it otherwise; it reduces disease because it comes from a verified clean source; it helps reduce poverty because the hours that would have been spent hauling water over long distances can now be spent building the community and escaping the cycle of disease and poverty.
Charity:Water is a great organization doing very important work, so Graham asks you to please check them out, see how they're helping to save some people who really need it, and, if you can, donate on his behalf. ::Charity:Water
More about clean drinking water and the developing world
How to Go Green: Water
charity : water . Give Clean Drinking Water Valentine's Day
Born in September? Here's A Charity Just For You
LifeStraw: Thirsty? Suck it up.
Lifestraw, Version II: Still Filtering; Now Without Aftertaste
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
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This is a great way to direct your birthday gifts.
Happy birthday, Graham! I made my donation, despite the CharityWater site's best efforts to stop me.
how'd you do it gene? I couldn't enter in the state, no matter how long i tried! I want to donate $10; I'm on a budget, you know! ;)
You are all 100% correct - I can't seem to get it to accept my donation either. I am not sure what the issue is and I have tried several times.. You get to the review your donation screen and then it boots you back to the input screen and tells you "We're sorry! There was an error processing your payment. Please double check all your credit card and billing information and try again."
The Credit Card is good to go but for some reason I can't donate.
Graham I don't know you personally only know of you via this blog - however Happy Birthday! That picture of a baby bottle with that horrid water is heartbreaking. If anyone has any tips on how I can donate please email me directly - eric@pickuppal.com.
Cheers,
Eric
blog.pickuppal.com
The trick is to enter "United States" for the country first. If you enter "US" it doesn't work. My guess is that by filling in "United States" (or whatever your country is) it populates the state/province list based on the country. No recognized country name, no list.
I feel sad for people who live in sub-standard condition such as the ones shown on these pictures. However, this must be remedied at the root of the problem by forcing these people to control their population. The average woman has way too many children, half of which die from hunger and unsanitary living conditions. In spite of that, their population is increasing. I will only donate towards birth control.
I feel sad for people who live in sub-standard condition such as the ones shown on these pictures. However, this must be remedied at the root of the problem by forcing these people to control their population. The average woman has way too many children, half of which die from hunger and unsanitary living conditions. In spite of that, their population is increasing. I will only donate towards birth control.
I'd like to point out that this site is awesome and I try to mention it whenever I can.
vsk