Tag Archives: 10 days 10 lives

Party With A Purpose; Alex & Ani for Water.org

Party With A Purpose; Alex & Ani for Water.org

 

Bloggers from The Mission LIst; Carla Molina of Petit Rhody, Laura Rossi of Mysocalledsensorylife & Elizabeth Atalay of Documama host the Alex & Ani Party with a Purpose for Water.org

A few of my own favorite charms

While working on the Water.org campaign for The Mission List  fellow bloggers Laura Rossi, Carla Molina and I realized we all lived in the same area.  We decided to get together and try to augment our social media fundraising efforts with an Alex & Ani Party With A Purpose.  Alex & Ani is a fabulous local company that we love to support not only for their amazing jewelry line, but their positive energy philosophy as well.  An entire division of the company is devoted to Charity By Design which supports various charities through the sales of specifically designed charm bangles for each group.

Their Parties With A Purpose are another way the company gives back.  Parties are hosted in the stores and provide a unique shopping experience that enables the Charity By Design department of Alex and Ani to raise funds and awareness for various charities.  Events are generally two hours long (6-8 p.m. or 7-9 p.m.), and the company donates 15% of event sales to the designated charity.  Co-branded evites are created by Alex and Ani for event promotion, and lite bites and positive energy punch are provided by the store.

 

 

We are thrilled with the results of our Party With A Purpose held at the Alex & Ani Chapel View Store at the company’s headquarters.  In just two hours of shopping and fun we were able raise over $500.00 to be donated directly to Water.org.

Every $25.00 donated provides clean water for life to someone.  That means we just provided 22 people clean water for life!

We are so grateful to all of those who turned out to support Water.org at our Party With A Purpose, and to those of you who have donated  on-line or helped to spread the word by re-tweeting and re-posting our social media efforts.  We have three days left to reach our goal of bringing 100 people clean water for life, and we are so close to being able to do just that.  If you missed our Party With A Purpose but would still like to help us reach that goal, you can still do so on The Mission List fundraising page.

 

The Eye Of Water

The Eye Of Water

Because of my half Turkish Husband and my affinity for the Evil Eye , the weird and wonderful Eye of Water Fountain fascinated me.  Located in Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square PA it was built in 1968, and inspired by a similar fountain seen in Costa Rica, Central America. It sits above the reservoir that serves the main fountain garden of the once grand estate that is now a park.  5,000 gallons of water flow over the eye and are recycled per minute.  It is quite a stunning sight to see.

Quite a luxury in a world where a population 3x that of the entire of the United States of America lacks water. What we have in abundance, women around the globe spend a collective 200 million hours a day collecting for their families use.

I have joined The Mission List and Water.org in a ten day challenge to raise awareness about water issues, and help raise funds to change peoples lives. If we work together we can end this crisis in our lifetime. Only $25 brings one person clean water for life. My goal is in ten days to provide water for life to at least ten people. I’d love for you to join me by spreading the word, donating to The Mission List fundraiser, starting your own fundraiser, or just learning more about the water crisis. Together we can make a difference.


 

Matt Damon & A Tall Drink Of Water

Matt Damon & A Tall Drink Of Water

Have you heard what Matt Damon is involved in now? Click on the picture below if you’d like to hear him explain!

Click photo to play Video. Video and information provided by Water.org

Matt Damon is a total stud. He Co-Founded Water.org with Gary White in 2009, and let’s face it, Men who give back to society like that are just plain sexy.   Water.org is a nonprofit organization that has transformed hundreds of communities in Africa, South Asia, and Central America by providing access to safe water and sanitation.  Water.org works with local partners to deliver innovative solutions for long-term success. Its microfinance-based WaterCredit Initiative is pioneering sustainable giving in the sector.

I am helping Matt Damon out, because I know that together we can make a difference! Starting yesterday, for ten days I am posting about water to help raise awareness on this issue that impacts so many lives. Every twenty seconds, a child dies from a water-related illness.  Just $25 can provide clean water for life.  You can help me raise awareness by spreading the word through your own social media, re-post on Facebook, re-tweet on twitter or share on Pinterest.

Yesterday I began ten days of working with The Mission List to raise awareness, and funds for water.org.   You can help by spreading the word , donating to my fundraiser ,  start your own fundraiser,  or just learning more about the water crisis. Together we can make a difference. 

 Only $25 brings one person water for life and in these ten days I will be trying to raise enough money to help change the lives of ten people. I’d love for you to join me. 

Oil and Water:10 Days 10 Lives,Day 1

Oil and Water:10 Days 10 Lives,Day 1

 

Like a shimmering oasis the city of Riyadh rises out of the sand.  Located in central Saudi Arabia the capital city is 250 miles from the nearest coast.  Although the Arabian Peninsula is surrounded by water, humans cannot drink saltwater.  Saltwater can be turned into drinking water through a process called desalination however, and desalination is increasingly used as global populations grow.  When my husband and I visited Riyadh this past spring, one gallon of water cost three times a gallon of gas.  We could see why.   The population of the city has grown from 100,000 to over five million in the past century. To supply this precious resource seven desalination plants work to provide about 70% of the potable water for the use of its inhabitants. Desalination is a costly process that takes high energy though, deep underground aquifers and scarce ground water provide the rest.  Our host told us that he had dug a well for a new home that he is building on the outskirts of the city.   When he said that they had to dig 500 feet down to reach water, my husband jokingly asked if they had stuck oil as well.

Riyadh at night

I am getting parched just thinking about it, but our visit made me ponder the sustainability of the most valuable resource on our planet.  I am not talking about oil. A human cannot live more than a week without water, and we lived long before the use of oil as an energy source was discovered.  Water is life. Water can also be deadly if it is unsanitary, and thousands of children die each day from unsafe water and lack of sanitation facilities around the globe.

Map of Saudi Arabian expansion out from Riyadh from 1902 to 1934

Our visit to Saudi Arabia was fantastic; we met wonderful people, and enjoyed copious amounts of delicious local cuisine. We loved exploring the diverse scenery, and the juxtaposition of modernity against ancient desert culture.  The stark desert that we left behind upon takeoff was contrasted by a rainy landing in our verdant home state, which left us with a general concern about our worlds limited water resources. Oil and Water do not mix.  My appreciation for water was renewed in that trip, as well as the understanding that the verdant landscape that surrounds our home and supplies our garden is a privilege of geography.  That said with the reality of increasingly severe weather patterns it is all potentially  subject to change. It is likely that water, like fossil fuels today, will be a determining factor of world stability in the future. With the knowledge that 884 million people around the globe lack access to clean water, a basic resource that so many of us take for granted, I was inspired to participate with The Mission List in the Water.org 10 Day Challenge. Ten days of awareness, and for each $25.00 donation, one person can be given safe water for life .

The Author in Riyadh

When you turn on the tap or flush the toilet do you think about what your life would be like without water? We all need it to survive and yet nearly 1 billion people in the world don’t have access to safe water and 2.5 billion people don’t have access to a toilet. It’s 2012, and yet more people have a cell phone than a toilet. These facts take a moment to settle in and can make people feel powerless against a problem so big. Yet, there is something we can all do to help. Alongside the non-profit, Water.org, I am joining others who are working to end this crisis in our lifetime. Only $25 brings one person water for life and for the next ten days I will be trying to raise enough money to help change the lives of ten people. I’d love for you to join me. For the next ten days I will be working with The Mission List to raise awareness, you can donate to my fundraiserstart your own fundraiser, or just learn more about the water crisis. Together we can make a difference.