On November 13 , I'm turning 40.

At first, this seemed surreal, even daunting.

But then I realized that millions of people don't live to see their 5th birthday. And why? Because they didn't have access to clean, safe water.

So I'm not scared of turning 40. In fact, I'm celebrating my birthday like never before.

I'm asking for $10,000 from everyone I know - and every penny of the money raised will go directly to fund freshwater wells in developing nations. Even better, every dollar is "proved" when the projects are complete, and photos and GPS coordinates are posted using Google Earth.

My goal is to raise $10,000 by December 31...

$20 can give one person clean water for 20 years; and
$10,000 can build a freshwater well in a village and provide 500+ people with clean drinking water.