charity: water began almost ten years ago with a birthday party. Since then, itās been one of the best ways for supporters (especially young ones) to help raise money for clean water.
Today, over 18,000 people have used their birthday to help serve others in need. And together theyāve raised enough to bring clean and safe drinking water to half a million people around the world.
This community is incredible, and we wanted to introduce some of them to you. Here are four young heroes who are currently sacrificing their birthday gifts to help bring clean water to families in need...
Evelyn and Madison - Age 3
(Photo courtesy of Karin Heitzman)
Meet Evelyn and Madison. Two of the cutest three-year-olds we have the pleasure of knowing. These twins both pledged their 3rd golden birthday this year to help bring clean water to people around the world after their parents heard about charity: water on the Bill Simmons podcast.
āWe were blown away by all the personal stories. The different stories and statistics really pulled at our heart strings and it just happened to be that we listened to the podcast the week before the girlsā birthday.ā
Inspired by the lightbulb going off that they wanted to help build the character trait of generosity in their children at a young age and get them thinking about the future of serving together as a family and living for others, Evelyn and Madisonās parents talked to the girls about giving up their birthday for charity: water.
ācharity: water is the golden bullet of birthday presents. You give health, education, and time to families. There is not a day that goes by when I donāt think about how much water we use, and how I never worry about my children being sick from the water they drink.ā
After flooding social media with cute pictures of the twins and spreading the message of these little girls desire to help others, the donations started pouring in. Many people who donāt even know the Wever family have been donating to the girlsā campaign and even going beyond the $6.
Evelyn and Madison have been thrilled to see the success of their campaign and even more thrilled to know that theyāre helping change the lives of kids all around the world.
āMomma gives us clean water, other mommas should have clean water to give to their kids too.ā
Ever since he was 4, Dylan has chosen to support a charity on his birthday. Two years ago, he heard that professional skateboarder Tony Hawk pledged his birthday for charity: water and he was so inspired, he decided to pledge his birthday too.
This is Dylanās second birthday campaign for charity: water and heās already on a roll. Heās hosted lemonade and art stands to raise money and even hosted a birthday party where he asked for cash gifts instead of presents.
Thanks so much for your support, Dylan! We canāt wait to see the impact your birthday has on the lives of people all around the world!
Sydney first heard about charity: water when she was 9 years old and a girl from her church started fundraising for the organization. A girl that we all have come to know and love over the years: Rachel Beckwith.
After hearing Rachelās story, Sydney was inspired and knew that anyone, no matter what age they were, could make a difference.
When Sydney first started her campaign, she reached her fundraising goal of $450 within three hours! Since then, she has posted about her campaign on social media and even had a birthday party where she asked her friends to donate to her campaign instead of bringing her gifts.
So far Sydney has raised over $1,200 and we canāt wait to see what else she has in store.
Six-year-old Gabriel Torres first heard about charity: water when his mom showed him videos of families and kids from around the world working hard to gather water that wasnāt even clean.
āI never knew so many people didnāt have clean water,ā he said. āWhen I saw how hard these families worked to get water from open wells that they could get hurt using, and how they walked for so long to get there just to bring home brown water to their children and families, I wanted to help.ā
This is Gabrielās first birthday campaign for charity: water and heās already raised over 3 times his initial goal! He raised his first $130 in a matter of minutes just by talking to his dadās friends about what he was planning on doing for his birthday. And for his birthday party, he even created his own Jerry Can to collect donations.
āMany people are very happy when they see how much I care. They think itās pretty cool that I decided I didnāt want toys for my birthday or any gifts. Instead I wanted $6 to change lives and give people clean water that donāt have it today. I know that I have clean water and I never knew how lucky I was. I think everyone should be able to have clean water like we do.ā
Keep up the awesome work, Gabriel!