[You can watch an introductory video to this campaign here; it's the most personal talk I've ever given in public: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AJlT0v5MYY ]

My family is from Orissa, India, and it's long been a tradition in our family that for birthdays, we don't receive gifts. We give them.

So for my birthday, I'm urging you to join me in giving to the place my family comes from: The villages of Orissa. We're going to bring clean water to an entire village of over 400 people in just two weeks, and if you give $45, you'll give enough to provide clean water to one person.

The only difference between me and the people you'll be helping is that I had the good fortune to be raised in the U.S. with reliable food and water, medicines, education and physical safety. When we bring these villages water, we take the first step toward providing people with all of these things. What's more, we help undo some of the injustices of India's caste system, we help young girls get to go to school, and we free parents from the fear of losing their children to water-borne disease.

And what the kids of these villages will accomplish when we provide them with the water they need is going to change the world. So please, give. The impact will be visible once we achieve this goal, because charity: water applies 100% of donations to providing these water systems, and once our project is complete, we'll have the GPS coordinates of the well that's built so we can see the impact for ourselves.

Thanks for your kindness, and for your generosity.

To read a full description and see a video of me introducing this campaign with charity: water, see my post here:
http://dashes.com/anil/2013/08/bringing-water-to-a-town-like-ours.html