Let’s Raise $5,000 for Charity: Water

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Hemant Mehta

Here’s your feel-good story of the day: The Atheist Community of Tulsa was on a mission to raise $5,000 for Charity: Water (a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations) beginning in June…

Millions are good without God. Are you?

In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking for water. Women and children usually bear the burden of water collection, walking miles to the nearest source, which is unprotected and likely to make them sick.

Time spent walking and resulting diseases keep them from school, work and taking care of their families.

With safe water nearby, women are free to pursue new opportunities and improve their families’ lives. Kids can earn their education and build the future of their communities.

The Atheist Community of Tulsa wants to help them. We can achieve something incredible. Now, we’re asking that you support people who need it. Our mission is to raise $5,000 during FreeOK or in the next three months. Please join us in donating to clean water projects. Help us make a dent in the global water crisis. Help us prove that atheists CAN be good without god.

Just as the deadline was approaching, they reached the goal! (TheThinkingAtheist deserves credit for helping with the final push.) ***Edit***: Dr. William Morgan also deserves a lot of credit for making a wonderful matching offer!

You want a shed a tear? Check out this comment from an anonymous donor. (Click to enlarge.)

As a result of the donations, a well will now get built in a place that needs it. As an added bonus, it’ll have a plaque emblazoned with the Atheist Community of Tulsa and FreeOK logos.

…

Ok, so now I’m inspired. I think we can raise $5,000… and we can do it faster than the Tulsa group :)

You’ve amazed me with your generosity in the past, with Damon Fowler and the vandalized church in Oregon.

Let’s do it again.

Because Friendly Atheists love H2O, too!

We’re raising money for “drilling equipment that will bring clean water to people in Ethiopia.” All the money goes directly to the drilling rig.

It’s a three month campaign, but I want to end it as quickly as possible. I need your help in spreading the word to make that happen.

Would you consider chipping in?

About Hemant Mehta

Hemant Mehta is the chair of Foundation Beyond Belief and a high school math teacher in the suburbs of Chicago.
This entry was posted in Atheist Generosity, General. Bookmark the permalink.
  • Mal

    You love H2O2? :D

    Anyway, donated. First time for me I think, actually, except for giving a little to people collecting money on the streets and stuff.

  • http://www.phoenixgarage.org/ cr0sh

    Well, I don’t have $500 to donate, but I donated what I could.

    Something I wonder, though – what about getting a group like this involved in helping to make water available?:

    http://www.emas-international.de/

    They seem to be mainly focused on Bolivia, but if you watch their videos, you’ll see that the technology is fairly simple to transfer; heck – even a DVD of the videos might do wonders…

  • Rich Wilson

    I find it preferable to rubbing alcohol :-)

  • Trina

    A really good cause.  I’m on Soc. Sec. Disability; so frustrating to not be able to work & have money to give for things like this. 

  • http://friendlyatheist.com Richard Wade

    Just added 10% to the goal. GO FRIENDLY ATHEISTS!

  • http://friendlyatheist.com Richard Wade

    “They also serve who only stand and wait.”

    Every word of caring, encouragement, or appreciation, every smile of love or approval is a contribution.  We all have a place to stand, a role to play, a task to perform, a gift to give.

  • Kevin_Of_Bangor

    That was really awesome of you. Do you want to donate to my check engine light fund too?

  • Atheist Community of Tulsa

    Thanks for getting involved, Hemant! You are an amazing guy.

  • http://eternalbookshelf.wordpress.com Ani Sharmin

    Thanks, Hemant!

  • Adam.B

    Just wondering is there a reason this site doesn’t accept paypal I really hate giving out my credit card info, anyway I chipped in.

  • http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/ Hemant Mehta

    Thanks! I was wondering the same thing, but I’m sure there’s some longwinded reason they don’t use it…

  • Rich Wilson

    If you google for something like ‘paypal sucks’ you’ll get lots of reasons not to use paypal.  In any case, you’re trusting someone (paypal or someone else) with your CC/bank info.  At least with a CC you have some recourse in that you can contact your CC and have charges reversed.  If paypal is linked to your bank account, good luck.

  • Adam.B

    ok i checked the FAQ and this is the reason they give:

    “No, sorry. Although we do use PayPal to process all our
    online donations (it’s very secure), we built mycharitywater.org to
    track your donations through your mycharity: water profile, and you can’t connect your PayPal account with that profile.
     
    That said, all of our payments go through PayPal securely. charity: water never handles your personal information, so donating on our site
    is just as safe as donating through PayPal.”

  • Sulris Campbell

    I like donating through friendly athiest. 
    i want to donate anyway but if i donate through an athiest organization i help two birds with one band-aid

  • http://profiles.google.com/jen.velic Jen Velic

    Hey, we’re struggling to pay our mortgage, but at least we have running water and sewer, and a guy who comes to pick up our garbage every week.  I can pitch in $10.

  • Charles Black

    Isn’t H2O2 hydrogen peroxide, a corrosive chemical used in wound cleaning?
    Another way to contribute to clean water generation is to donate idle PC time to the World Community Grid, which coincidentally has a project dealing with clean water.

  • http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/ Hemant Mehta

    I see you have figured out the joke… :)

  • http://religionsetspolitics.blogspot.com/ Joshua Zelinsky

    It may make sense to put another blog entry about this up in a few days in case people missed it. 

  • http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/ Hemant Mehta

    I plan to very soon.