Christmas in July

*written by Jody Landers and then tweeked by ME to fit my own blog!!



Yep, we are going to talk Christmas real quick.

And when we talk Christmas, we talk Water.

So here's the deal:
With the continued effort of our Voices (people who made a $20 monthly commitment and a number of other one time donations), the Water For Christmas effort will have raised an additional $40,000 by Christmas time. Putting the total in one year at close to $100,000. That is 20 villages who have gotten and will get soon the life-saving access to clean water. That is a big deal.

Huge.

World change.

SO, Jody was chatting with charity: water staff about the upcoming Water For Christmas campaign which will launch at the beginning of November and the charity: water staff person said, "If you persist and stay focused on Liberia right now, we really have the opportunity to see the needle move on this country." Do you get that? We have the opportunity to see a nation change...to see how clean water really does effect everything.

BUT we have a ways to go...there are still millions of thirsty people in Liberia. We are going to have to continue to raise our voices, give, and advocate. And perhaps we are niave and passionate enough to believe that this can be done. We think it can. And we are going to move with that...

SO we need you. If you want. To be a part. We need you. We want to involve as many as we can. We sometimes feel like our stay at home mommy voices cannot reach much further. But if we can encourage and equip you to take it to your circles...your friends, your families, your workplaces...there is no limit to what we can do together.

WE are working on some ways for you to be involved if you want. OR you can dream up your own ways. There is no script here.

HERE is what we need right now:

1. We are going to need crafters. There is a Water For Christmas etsy shop. Everything in the shop will be sold at Christmas time with 100% of the profits going to Water. We just need your crafting. IF you would like to donate to it, we will list it and mail it to the buyer for you. You simply need to craft it and mail them to us. We will sell it (and list you as the artist and link your site ect) and give all profit to Water. So if that is you, be dreaming about what you can create to sell there. You can email ME--I will be running the shop--and I will send you the address to which you can mail your creations. Start now. We would love to have a full, full shop. People are looking for opportunities to shop with a purpose. We are going to give them one.

You can also sell the on your own etsy shop if you would prefer. You can make your own donations that way. We just hope to drive a lot of traffic to the Water For Christmas shop and eliminate some of the hassle for the artists. It's up to you. Either way is fabulous.

2. Churches. We are going to hopefully utilize churches more this year. Be dreaming and thinking about ways you can use it in your own home churches. Email Jody if you have questions or need ideas for that. She is working on some.

3. Business/Company/Corporate Support. We know that many business and companies look for Christmas charities. Sometimes all you have to do is ask. We also hope to have buckets available to hand out for people to take to their offices and businesses so people can participate in $10 Friday or perhaps a "Jean Day" or just a place to donate during the holiday season. Perhaps it's something you can organize in your area too.

4. Schools. A number of you ran successful campaigns in your preschools and schools last year. We do have a packet of ideas for school efforts or you can come up your own.

5. Foundations. This is one that I don't know a lot about. IF anyone has any expertise in this area, we could use it. But I do believe there is potential there and that we could tap into it. Email Jody if you know more about this.

6. Events. We will do another Water event at our local country club. We are aiming for Dec. 6. It might be cool to have a number of events going on that same day around the country. Could be exciting. But regardless of the day, it's a good way to involve the community. We can give you some ideas if you need it or at least let you know how we did it.

7. And then whatever else you can think of...we had people do everything from bake sales to running marathons last year to help raise awareness and support of clean water. It is amazing and darn exciting when people come together for a common cause...that is so much bigger than us. One that frees us and teaches us and blesses us so much in the process. I can't wait.

Come November, we will have 6 basic products available at water4christmas.com (all other products will go in the etsy shop). And water4christmas.com will be information central.

But we wanted you guys to start thinking and praying and dreaming with us. Because we need and we want you to be a part.

Start emailing me with your questions and I will help as much as I can as we all prepare together for the November launch of the campaign.

And all that because 4500 mothers watch their children die every day from water related illness. It doesn't have to be.

We can change that.

Want in?

Many, many thanks.