Clean Water Changes Everything

This holiday season, Yahoo! For Good wants to start a ripple of kindness around the world.

Like Yahoo! I believe that it doesn’t necessarily take a great deal of money or time to spread happiness – sometimes it can be the simplest things like providing people with clean water.

If you're like me, you don't spend too much time thinking about water - it's everywhere we go. When we're thirsty, we flip a handle or push a button. When we're dirty, we twist a shower knob. When our garden needs watering, when our pasta needs to be boiled, when we use the bathroom - water's just there for the taking.

But for a billion people on the planet, it's not. Millions of women and children have to walk hours each day to get water from muddy ponds and rivers. And much of that water is infested with parasites and leeches. In fact, 80% of all diseases in the world are caused by unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation.

When I learned that only $20 can give someone clean, safe water for two decades, I decided to start a campaign to help. Now, my goal is to raise $1000 to build wells in developing nations. A $1000 can provide 10 families with clean drinking water.

And the cool thing about charity: water is that they spend 100% of the money I raise directly on the water projects. Even better, when projects are complete, every dollar is tied to village and all the wells are posted on Google Earth.

Together, we can make a dent in the global water crisis. I hope you'll consider helping by making a donation to Charity Water. It doesn't take a lot to make a world of difference. Yahoo! has generously provided me with some seed money to get my Charity Water project going.

So here's my pitch: Skip the pumpkin latte for one day and donate the $5 bucks to help Charity Water build fresh water wells in Africa!

Yahoo! and I are in. Are you? Yodeling optional.