ON THURSDAY’S I POST FROM THE VAULT. THIS POST IS FROM NOVEMBER 2011.
Recently I’ve been reading Claire Ortiz’s new book called Twitter for Good, which is full of stories about how twitter has impacted the world. I know a lot of people view social media as a trivial distraction. Some might even think it’s an exercise in narcissism. I get that. Sometimes it is. But sometimes, social media can be used to do amazing things.
In my own life, I’ve seen social media used as a medium for great things. I shared about needs for the orphanage on facebook every time we went to Haiti, and prior to each trip had a garage full of donations from friends. I watched the power of facebook help our team raise over $60,000 for Heartline’s maternity center in Haiti. I watched the story about a Haitian boy named Moses spread on facebook and now HE HAS A FAMILY . During the first few days after earthquake when our internet was down and communication was sparse, I watched Troy Livesay’s twitter account become the news source for CNN. It’s how most of my friends learned that we were okay. And I really believe that the advocacy of my blog readers helped motivate our government to allow many Haitian orphans who were waiting on signatures to be united with waiting family after the earthquake (including our own). I’m hoping that in the coming weeks, I’m going to witness another example of social media for good. In two weeks, I’m slated to attend Camp Mighty. It is an event that is related to the Mighty Summit I attended last month. The organizers of Camp Mighty have worked a charity project into the event. I was really thrilled to hear that there would be a philanthropic component, because the potential for influence is great. When I learned that the charity would be charity:water, I was even more thrilled. I’ve been a longtime fan of the work they do and I think clean water is such an important issue for our world right now. (If you haven’t seen the documentary FLOW, you should. It was eye-opening to me). In what feels a little full-circle, one of the things that I’ve achieved on my life-list that I’m most proud of is that Mark and I bought a well for a village in India a few years ago. Now, I’m partnering to help by a rig that builds the wells: The 2011 September Campaign. Our 5-year-anniversary video from charity: water on Vimeo. Our goal for Camp Mighty is to make a dent in the $700,000 needed to buy a new rig. This means even more wells. This means even more people with clean water. 
This is where you come in. I would love for you to help. I’ve spent a lot of time this week trying to figure out a creative way to incentivize people to give. I’m not a baker, I’m not crafty . . . and I’m not particularly gifted at running fundraisers. But I do know that I have a lot of social justice-minded mamas who read this blog. I’ve enlisted your help in raising money for amazing causes before, from an ambulance for a birthing center in Haiti to funding a special needs adoption . . . and there has always been an amazing response. So, instead of a raffle or selling something, I’m just going to ask you to give. Because you want to. Because water is important. It’s life. And because you want to be a part of this effort, of watching social media band together and buy a drilling rig that we can then use social media to track as it builds wells. FULL CIRCLE, PEOPLE! I do have a little incentive to offer, though. I don’t have any crafty goods or design services to offer. But I do have this little corner of the web that gets seen by several thousand people each day . . . and I do have about 4,000 subscribed via google reader. Any given post is seen by about 10,000 eyes. So. . . for anyone who gives a donation of $50 or more, I will give you space in a future blog post to promote whatever you would like. (Within reason . . . this is a family-friendly blog). If you have a mom and pop restaurant that you’d like to advertise, or an etsy shop you want to promote, or a blog you’d like to send some traffic to, this could be a great opportunity to create some buzz. So. I hope you will take a minute as you are reading this and make a donation – whatever you can. Write rageagainsttheminivan in the comments so I’ll know who you are. 
HELP US FUND WATER PROJECTS:
100% of your donation funds drilling equipment that will bring clean water to people in Ethiopia. Thank you!!
