Help bring clean water to 50,000 people.

12,500

people served

25,000

people served

32,500

people served

50,000

people served

8,139 people still waiting
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This campaign closed on Dec 31, 2012 Brad Galo brought clean water to Mai Dinkano.

Brad Galo

Focus (ST) on the Goal

organized by Brad Galo

Help Brad give the gift of clean water. 100% of every donation raised will fund charity: water's work providing access to clean water projects around the world.

$2,000

raised

$2,000

goal

Why Brad Galo is fundraising for clean water

Plain and simply, my goal is to give 100 people the gift of clean water by reducing the amount of money that I will spend on a car.

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Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters,

As you ALL (I'm sure) know by now, I have wanted to own a Focus ST ever since February, 2009, when I started working on it in my Product Marketing job at Ford. I placed my order for one a few months ago: a Focus ST with Tuxedo Black paint and Performance Blue-accented seats... I knew it would be expensive, but I was do whatever it took in order to afford the car that has been my dream for the past 4 years.

Well, the car arrived at the dealership, with my name on it--and I didn't buy it.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "WHAT?! I've been waiting for pictures of your ST to show up on Facebook...and I wanted my test drive! What happened??"

Over the past 3 months, I have dedicated an enormous amount of time and energy to training for my first half marathon and also to raising money for charity: water. In the course of fundraising, I asked people to look at their spending and to make a one-time change that could help give someone clean water for the rest of their life. I asked questions like, "Could you eat dinner for two at home and donate $20 instead of eating out? That’s one person’s life changed for good right there."

Thinking about this more, I looked at my OWN spending and, as I looked at what would have been my largest and most impractical purchase decision of my life, I now ran into a conflict. I was going to put $5,000 down on the Focus ST to get my monthly payment down to one that I could manage. But if I bought something less expensive, I could save money AND make a $2,000 donation to charity: water, giving 100 people better lives.

After making a couple phone calls to ensure that I wasn't COMPLETELY off my rocker, I called the dealership and told them that they could sell my car to someone else. I couldn't say “no” to 100 people just because I want to drive a cool car.

As for the ST, I'll still own one...it'll just have to be later, when I have enough income to own one and still do the other things that are important to me--like donating to charity, traveling, and otherwise enjoying life outside of my car.

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I feel more alive when I am spending my energy to help solve the water crisis than I feel doing most anything else! As Martin Luther King Jr. once said:

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

I feel like I have realized the magnitude of humanity's broader concerns and I am committed to being a positive force in solving a big one: the water crisis.

Happy giving!

Brad

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1 comment · 1 donation

This campaign brought clean water to Mai Dinkano, Ethiopia.

Ethiopia
Well With Hand Pump
350
Top Donors

  • 1
    Brad Galo
    $2,000
Past campaigns
Brad's Birthday Campaign - 2014
Ended Jun 19, 2014
Raised $1,136
Thirty for Thirsty
Ended May 19, 2013
Raised $1,685
Focus (ST) on the Goal
Ended Dec 31, 2012
Raised $2,000
The Expedition for Clean Water
Ended Oct 31, 2012
Raised $4,457.33