On May 7 I will turn 40.

Up until this point, my birthdays have always been about "stuff". Some of it's been really cool stuff and all of it has been given with love.

But most of it is stuff that I didn't really need. And honestly, some of it is stuff that I don't even remember.

So this year, I'm giving my birthday up.

I'm turning 40 years old, and instead of asking for gifts, I'm asking for $40 or more from everyone I know. It's not going to me, though. All of it is going to build freshwater wells for people in developing nations.

A lot of people take water for granted - I know I do. I can have a glass of water anytime I want. In fact, I even bath in potable water.

Well there are a billion people in the world who can't do that. Yes, that's billion with a "B".

They walk hours every day to get dirty water for their families. Millions contract deadly diseases from contaminated water.

45,000 people will die this week alone. (Over 90% of those are children under the age of 5.)

My birthday wish this year is not for more gifts I don't need; it's to give clean and safe drinking water to some of the billion living without it. I want to make my birthday matter this year.

Please join me.

Thanks for helping make this my best birthday yet. I sincerely appreciate it.

~Brian

P.S. Check this out because this is so cool...

Because of charity: water's unique model, 100% of all donations go directly to direct water projects costs, and each donation is "proved" and tracked to the village it helped when projects are complete.