Water for Life

October 19, 2015

Last year, I joined Water for Life as Director of Awesome (I have another title. But I can’t remember it and titles are never my personal strength). The non-profit is 100% volunteer based, and giving to this organization has been an essential step in Feeling Like a Contributing Human.

We’ve been working on this Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for over a year now–researching and conferencing and planning and revising. Seriously, you say the word Indiegogo over and over again, and it hurts your tongue after awhile.

We’re trying to raise at least 25k so we can distribute 500 filters to Cambodia. Each filter provides clean drinking water for at least 10 people for up to 10 years, so that’s 5000 lives we are hoping to save. Our stretch goal is to raise 25k more and provide filters in Africa. 25k more? India.

Here’s our general schtick:

We supply high-tech, low-cost water filters to developing countries with contaminated water supplies. Basically, we found a filter that takes all the crap out of water (literal crap, as well as debris, bacteria, disease) and makes that water safe to drink.
People need clean water. We get them clean water. It’s a huge problem that actually has a simple solution. And since 1.8 million children die every year from waterborne disease, we’re passionate about getting these filters out there. We make these distributions by partnering with other charitable organizations, as well as planning humanitarian service trips of our own.

Here’s more about the Sawyer water filtration system we use:

MINI filter: These pocket-size personal filters are great for camping. For exotic honeymoons. For international missionaries. For YOU.
Family filter: This larger filter uses two buckets and is gravity fed. It can filter 150 gallons of water a day for over ten years. It’s also a great addition for your food storage/disaster relief kit.
Our featured perk is our 2-for-1. For $100, you get a mini-filter AND a family filter sent right to your home. We also will send a filter to a family in need.
Win-win-win

Wow, Lindsey. I had no idea this technology existed! I am excited/overwhelmed/generous/joyous/touched/eager. So how can I help?
Funny you should ask…

FIVE WAYS YOU CAN HELP

1. Contribute: Our Indiegogo campaign runs for the next month. We have “perks” available beginning at $10, but any amount you can donate is fabulous.
Donate and/or purchase filters here:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/water-for-life-sustainable-water-filters-for-good/x/12492158#/

2. Share: Money, obviously, is great. But spreading the word helps too. Go to the campaign site and link on back, just like I did below. Or write your own Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Pinterest/Tumblr/email/blog post about Water for Life. Tell your friends at work or carpool about this. Buy a billboard. Go tell it on the mountain. Hashtag it up ‪#‎bewaterforlife‬

3. Create: Here’s an (unedited, amateur) video I made with two of my daughters. They had a lot of fun (and have made two more I still need to edit and post) Our “dirty bucket challenge” involves YOU trying out the filter yourself and is also a great learning activity for your kids…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNQVjvpgn6c

4. Follow: Here we are. Go here! Like us!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeWaterForLife
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeWaterForLife?fref=ts
Instagram: http://websta.me/n/bewaterforlife

5. Volunteer: We are always looking for ways to grow the charity. If you have ideas or time, you can go here or email james@bewaterforlife

To those of you who have asked when to help, now would be a great time. Right… now. We’ve had a GREAT start and we want to keep this momentum going.
Your contribution is a drop in the bucket, but drops make ripples.
And with enough help, we can make waves.