Bethany WELL

This week marked the beginning of the Lent Season. The Season of Lent is a time of self-reflection and penitence in anticipation of Easter. Towards that purpose, we focus on self-restraint and preparation through fasting. In the past we have challenged people to fast from something in their life to help them rely less on those things and more on God. People have fasted from coffee, facebook, red meat, shopping, complaining, overeating, etc.

This year, we are starting a campaign to not only fast from drinks, but to donate whatever money we would otherwise spend on drinks to charity: water. They are an organization that raises money to provide clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. So we are asking you to donate $20/wk over the next 6 weeks. Or if you can’t afford that, then $10/wk. Or if you drink a LOT of coffee, then $40/wk. Or if you’d like to make a one-time donation, we’d accept that as well. We are asking you to do this because 1.1 billion (buh buh, billion) people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water.

For $5000, we can build a well in a village and provide clean drinking water for over 250 people. So, even if you can’t go without coffee, think about donating anyways. But, I hope we can all step up to the challenge to forego the quad, venti, half-caff, one pump sugar-free vanilla, two pumps sugar-free hazelnut, extra-hot, ristretto latte, with half soy, half lowfat organic milk, with two paper cups that you normally order in order to show some self-restraint for awhile.

Donations will be collected each week through Easter Sunday. Let’s build a Well!

Read more for more info about charity: water.

It’s hard not to think about water today. In the western world, we face growing concerns about our stewardship of the world’s most precious resource. There’s talk of shortages, evidence of reservoirs and aquifers drying up, and of course, plenty of people who simply don’t care.

But forget about us.

Most of us have never really been thirsty. We’ve never had to leave our houses and walk 5 miles to fetch water. We simply turn on the tap, and water comes out. Clean. Yet more than 1.1 billion people on the planet don’t have clean water.

It’s hard to imagine what a billion people looks like really, but one in six might be easier. One in six people in our world don’t have access to the most basic of human needs. Something we can’t imagine going 12 hours without.

Here, we’d like to introduce you to a few of those billion people. They are very real, and they need our help. They didn’t choose to be born into a village where the only source of water is a polluted swamp. And we didn’t choose to be born in a country where even the homeless have access to clean water and a toilet.

We invite you to put yourself in their shoes. Follow them on their daily journey. Carry 80 pounds of water in yellow fuel cans. Dig with their children in sand for water. Line up at a well and wait 8 hours for a turn.

Now, make a decision to help. We’re not offering grand solutions and billion dollar schemes, but instead, simple things that work. Things like freshwater wells, rainwater catchments and sand filters. For about $20 a person, we know how to help millions of people.