Thanks to all who came out on Wednesday night! We had a great turnout, and with the help of our hosts at Demera Ethiopian Restaurant, we made about $170 at the dinner.

We're also grateful to everyone who has donated independently to our campaign website so far! Since we've already reached our first goal ($500) with the help of just a few generous folks, we've decided to raise the stakes for the rest of our month-long fundraising period.

We'd love to see even more of our friends out at our next fundraising event! Check back here for more information as we have it.

For now, read on for a bit of info about why we're fundraising...


Cheers!
Leah & Emily


***

We may run our drinking water through a purifier to remove 'invisible impurities,' but many communities around the world depend on visibly dirty water to drink, cook with and bathe in. Poor sanitation infrastructures, scarceness of local water wells, basic water safety – all of these factors cause malnutrition, diseases and higher-than-necessary mortality rates in developing areas.

Well, Chicago 4 Water [a very new, two-gal operation] wants to help make clean water available to those communities. And we'd be grateful if you'd help alongside us!


HOW IS CHICAGO 4 WATER RAISING MONEY?

We hope to host a few fun, awareness-raising activities in Chicago over the next several weeks. Check the top of this info-section, or search 'Chicago 4 Water' on Facebook, for more info.

We hope you can make an event or two!

Can't make an event but still want to donate? ^Click the 'Donate to My Campaign' button above.


HOW WILL OUR MONEY HELP FUND CLEAN WATER PROJECTS?

We'll do it via this site, MyCharity: Water. We think this site is the most direct way for our small-but-passionate Chicago group to help for a few reasons:

- Charity: Water has successfully built 2,900 water projects in 17 developing countries.
- CW contributes 100% of our donations to clean water projects.
- CW has a workable plan for directly using funds raised in a timely manner. If the full cost of a water project ($5,000) can't be raised in a month, the organization combines what is raised with other small amounts raised by other groups, to meet the needs of a water project.
- CW has partnered with other charitable organizations that are stationed in developing communities, and are familiar with the local people and their needs.
- The organization has an established fundraising infrastructure, with secure web-donations.


EVEN MORE INFO:

MyCharity: Water's umbrella site: http://www.charitywater.org/