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NYC for a Cause
Once you’ve hit the snooze button about three times, come to grips with reality that it’s Monday and you have to get out of bed, what’s the first thing you do? Go to the bathroom and flush the toilet? Turn on the shower? Power on your coffee machine? Brush your teeth? Regardless of your routine, there’s one common denominator in all of these tasks: they all require water.
I am 100% guilty of taking this modern day luxury for granted. I’ve always had it, I’ve never been without and the thought of having to survive 24 hours with no access to water is something I’ve never even had to wrap my head around. So to learn that 663 MILLION people live without access to clean water on a daily basis, was mind-blowing to me. Calling it a crisis even seems like an understatement. It was learning facts similar to this years ago which motivated me to partner with Stella Artois and Water.org on bringing awareness to this cause and encouraging others to do the same.
To hear that women – particularly young girls – often sacrifice up to 6 hours a day to travel to/from wells to bring clean water to their families is mind boggling. That’s 6 hours away from your family, 6 hours of traveling solo and 6 hours that could have been spent in school. Now in its 4th year, the partnership campaign has provided an opportunity for consumers to contribute to he cause. Each year, the program features Limited Edition Chalices representing countries where Water.org provides support. This year’s Chalice’s feature designs from Mexico, India and the Philippines.
A few weeks back, I had the privilege of travelling to New York City with the Stella Artois brand to see first hand the accomplishments we’ve all been a part of in raising awareness about this cause. Being in the presence of Gary White and Matt Damon, founding partners of the organization, was inspirational to hear tales of families and young women they’ve interacted with from such developing communities. They were also thrilled to announce that to date, the program has helped more than 1 million people in the developing world through the sales of more than 500,000 Chalices and direct donations of more than 8 million to Water.org.
But why stop there? They’ve mandated themselves to offer sustained access to water to more than 3.5 million people within the next four years. So ask yourself, if you had to choose between having a job or an education, or clean drinking water, which would you decide? I doubt you’d have to think long about the answer to that question and I only ask you keep that in mind the next time you visit a grocery store, are choosing a beverage to entertain with or want to make a difference.
Photography by Darby Mitchell
