©2007-2010 Summer Rayne Oakes | All Rights Reserved
Scott Harrison over at Charity: Water sent this plea out for clean water efforts during Haiti’s reconstruction. $1.3 million raised for 40,000 people. Tune in to UNSHAKEN: HAITI launching tomorrow – March 22, 2010 – for World Water Day. The video they shot is mesmerizing. Scott’s ability to give a face to human destruction, despair and hope is palpable.
You’ve heard it all before. 1 billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation. See it told a different way. Watch the video above. See what Esther, Nicky and Becky saw in conjunction with their work with Charity: Water.
Message from Scott Harrison: Today is World Water Day, and while a billion people on our planet still lack access to clean and safe drinking water, we’re excited about the great progress being made around the world. Through your help, charity: water has now funded 1,247 water projects in 14 countries, transforming the lives of more than 650,000 people. Our team just returned from visiting our wells inCentral African Republic, and it gives us great joy to share these stories with you. See photos here.
Charity: Water’s December 2008 ball took place this past week at the Metropolitan Pavilion. I got to have some down time with Scott (the founder) in Mexico, which doesn’t really happen all that often. Scott gave a riveting talk in Mexico at The Summit and it brought nearly a third of the group to Charity’s benefit, which was a good enough reason for a reunion. It was a tremendous turn-out. They raise $450,000 for clean water projects across 17 different countries and 100% of the money raised goes directly to the programs. In addition to the Summiteers (Josh, Eben, Graham, Nikki, Ben K., Ben H., Caroline, Natali, Elliot, Alex, Ryan, and the list goes on)– I got to see Esther again, who had just come back from documenting Charity’s projects in Kenya (and provided most all the photos you see here). Would love to have her join me again this coming year to Mozambique; let’s see what we can work out.
Regardless, if you’re interested in giving to a charity, I’d highly recommend looking into Charity: Water. You can check out their “Give on your Birthday” program, which has been a highly successful fundraising model. Though I know there has been issues with regenerating aquifers in various parts of the world because of improper well drilling and lack of water conservation, the Charity mission is a strong one and restores faith in people’s idea of what charity is because 100% of the public’s money goes to basic water and sanitation facilities in developing nations.
It was terrific to catch up with Adrian. We pledged to get some friends together for another dinner at his house. And if you fashionistas are curious about my outfit: It’s a brilliant hemp-silk vintage-inspired dress handmade by Carasan with hand-sewn glass beads and a fair-trade kalamkari purse by World of Good. As mentioned in an earlier post, the awesome feathered headgear was acquired at the coolest little Brooklyn sample sale from a number of my sustainable style peeps. Photo by Emma Grady over at Treehugger.com.
Emma, Rose and I pose for a picture.
Photos by Esther of Esther’s photos from Rwanda
The displays were impeccably done. Scott’s team does an impressive job in communicating Charity’s message.
I had plenty to talk about with the Teen Time Live crew.
Esther and I take a T.O. for a sexy little shot.
a cute candid capture by Andrew Bicknell