This past month has been the first month of a new adventure for our daughter Kylie. This adventure is just one small way that she is learning how to make one of her biggest dreams come true — that is to change the world! She has learned a lot over the past few months as we’ve researched and considered options and projects that she could do to get involved in this effort. She was excited to give up her birthday and rather than ask for gifts, to ask for donations to her campaign for clean and sustainable water solutions for children and families living in Rwanda.

Clean water is something that I have personally been involved in over the past few years. At Riverside Community Church, where I serve as Arts & Missions Pastor, we partnered with a global organization based right out of our hometown to bring clean water to children’s homes in Cambodia, one of which our sponsored daughter Srey Leak resides. I’ve visited these homes, I drank the water, I’ve seen how it continues year after year to provide health and wholeness to the children living in these homes.

Clean water solutions work. But they only work as long as their parts work. When a pump breaks down, who is going to repair it and provide the parts to fix it? When the installation teams leave, how do we know that the local people will use the water sources correctly? And on goes a list of inevitable things that could go wrong and over time will go wrong. This is why choosing who we partner with is essential to guaranteeing that our donation will last for a significant amount of time and have maximum effort in providing a long-term solution to the water crisis.

We helped Kylie choose an organization that meets several key factors that were vitally important for us to feel confident that the money she raises will multiply and will last for years to come. We chose to fundraise through an organization called “charity: water” for their partnership with “water for people” in Rwanda. This is a video explaining how the dollars she raises will make a lasting difference in the community where her water project will take place. And with charity: water, 100% of the money that she raises will go directly to the field to support this project.

You can donate to her campaign by click the following link:

http://my.charitywater.org/kylies-birthday-wish

Thank you for partnering with Kylie and the organizations that are bringing long-lasting, sustainable clean water solutions to children and families living in Rwanda.