Hi Friends!

My birthday is coming up soon, and I'm excited to turn 9! I'm going to have a spy-themed birthday party, and my mom is working hard to make sure we have lots of fun activities to do!

I think I'm a very lucky kid, so instead of presents for my birthday, I want to raise money for charity: water again. I would rather help people who have no clean water be able to drink water that is healthy so they won't be sick.

I found out about this project from some friends who have a grandson, Tariku, from Ethiopia. When he first came to the United States, his family visited a huge fountain. Tariku made a cup out of his hands and tried to scoop up water from the fountain to drink it because he had never seen so much clean water before. He couldn't believe it when his mom told him, "No, no, that's dirty," because it didn't look dirty to him compared to what he was used to in Ethiopia. The saddest part is Tariku's brother died from drinking dirty water that made him very sick. He did a charity: water project for his 5th birthday in 2010, and when I turned 7 that year, I asked my family and friends to donate to Tariku's project. Last year when I turned 8, I did my own birthday project and we raised $150. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated to charity: water before!

I want everyone in the world to have clean water to drink, so please help me raise money again for my 9th birthday too! Any amount helps! Thank you very much!

Zack