Build a Well With Mashable and "charity: water"
By John Casey |
Thursday, September 3, 2009 2:00 PM ET
Last year, Pete Cashmore, of the social media guide Mashable, took part in the Born in September fundraising campaign. The idea was to have Mashable users -- and their followers on Twitter and Facebook -- whose birthdays fell in the month of September forgo birthday bashes or presents and instead have people give money to charity: water, a nonprofit that builds water wells in developing countries.
Before long, there was enough money, when combined with a matching donation from actor Matt Damon's H2O Africa foundation, to build a really lovely well in the rural town of Sto in Northern Ethiopia, seen here in the photo.
The aptly named Cashmore is out to revisit last year's success.
Cashmore writes in his Mashable page that "charity: water is running the Born in September campaign again, and for my 24th birthday on September 18th, I’ll be asking my friends to visit the 'MashaWell' page and give donations instead of gifts -- $24, $240 or whatever amount you choose."
So if you have a loved one born in September, consider following Cashmore's example, and transfer some of your birthday loot into some potable water for those in need.
Photo courtesy of mashable.com and charity: water
John Casey is a New York-based health and science writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, WebMD.com, Parade magazine, CBSHealthWatch.com, Self magazine, and other publications.
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