Please take a moment and consider this...

My sister and several of the people in her church have 'projects' that they put into place every couple of months that allow for people to have an outlet to give...to BE God's hands and feet and not just talk about it. It's amazing the things that have come from the projects they have created and I have decided that I need to help geet the word out. I have been touched by the response they have received and I wanted to share with all of you (who do not already read my sister's blog) how we can all help...WE can make a difference in the world. This next project could change the world...really. I have copied snipits from a couple of the blogs of people involved in this group...you can read them at Cassie's blog, Tesi's blog, Jody's Blog and Amy's Blog. They all have different ways of writing about this amazing project. They all explain how you can give and how YOU can make a difference. Every little bit counts.

So here it is...

Water For Christmas

The lack of access to clean water is the leading cause of death in underdeveloped countries.
Try to imagine walking on a three hour journey…twice a day…to collect a liquid which shares “two diabolical identities–life mixed with death. It is both cure and poison.”(Dan Haseltine)
Inside the containers of millions of people around the world is a mixture of “water, dirt, algae, cow and goat feces, bacteria, mosquito larvae and other insect eggs and parasites and various waterborne diseases waiting for a host.” (Haseltine)

They are forced every day to make the choice…drink and die.
Or don’t drink and die.
And die they do.
4500 children die EVERY day due to water related diseases.
Did you get that?
4500 children every day.
And the solution lies simply below the surface…in a relatively inexpensive and permanent solution.

But as the holidays approached, we got nervous. We feared everyone (including ourselves) would start holding their money a bit tighter as Christmas approached. We didn’t want to commit to building a well and then have to come up short.
We thought about it and prayed about it for several weeks.
I was absolutely consumed by it.
Then it hit us.
Isn’t that the point?
It’s the point of all these things. All these projects. To force us to loosen our grip on earthly consumption. To strengthen our resolve to issues of justice. To keep our eyes open. To give more. Sacrifice more. To keep the world from changing us.

Then it was these statistics that sealed the deal—
Americans spend 450 billion dollars on Christmas every year.
It would cost 10 billion dollars to give the whole world clean water.
Are you kidding me?
Unacceptable.
That was it. We were no longer digging one well. We were launching in the middle of holiday season. And we’re going for 10 billion.

* According to charitywater.org:- One in six people on the planet do not have access to safe, clean drinking water.- Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick. Those hours are crucial, preventing many from working or attending school. Additionally, collecting water puts them at greater risk of sexual harassment and assault. Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of unsafe water. Of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% are children under 5 years old. Honestly, I did NOT know all this a few months ago. I did know that clean, safe drinking water was not accessible to many, but I was unaware of these specific statistics. And these stats have been haunting...HAUNTING...me as I am preparing for the holiday season. 450 billion dollars will be spent in America on Christmas?!? And only 10 billion dollars needed to give the ENTIRE PLANET clean, safe drinking water?!? That is 2%! Are you kidding me? 2% of the spending done on one holiday?

We are partnering with Charity Water. You can visit their website and read more about them at http://www.charitywater.org/.We fund the wells and 100% of our donations go DIRECTLY to building wells in Liberia, Africa. And we are EXCITED about this. As our money comes in and we raise enough to start building, they will give us GPS coordinates plotted in GoogleEarth to show us exactly where the wells will be built. We can watch videos and see photos of our wells being built and check in anytime. Amazing, right?!? It cost $5,000 to build one well. But, well, our goal is 10 BILLION!