Wildwood Interactive has donated two single seats to a seminar of the winner’s choice, topics include:
Thanks to CJ Romberger and the rest of the folks at Wildwood Interactive for supporting Austin Twestival and charity: water!
1, 8.34, 187, 1247, 60,000, 1.1 billion - if we hear but don’t really listen then they are just random numbers. What is the significance of numbers when talking about water?
8.34 - the weight of one gallon of water. Convert two 5 gallon Jerry cans that has be carried miles from a water source, and that’s 83.4 pounds. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), “women are most often the collectors, users and managers of water in the household as well as farmers of crops. Women and children provide nearly all the water for the household in rural areas.” In urban areas, women are often in charge of accessing clean water and ensuring sanitation for their families.
Women and children are most affected when water sources are contaminated or unavailable. They may be required to expend more labor collecting, storing, and protecting their water source, which can leave them with little or no time for other activities, such as an education. The UN estimates that in some parts of Africa, women and children spend eight hours a day collecting water. Water-related diseases are also a common challenge to women, who are often responsible for caring for sick ones and have to step in for those who are ill and unable to work. (Source: Womens Earth Alliance)
1.1 billion - the number of people on the planet who don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water. This not only means no safe and clean water to drink, but no basic sanitation such as toilets and showers. Safe water is not available to provide to schools and hospitals.
60,000 - The number of people in Zimbabwe now infected by cholera, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Cholera has now claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people in Zimbabwe. The epidemic of the disease, has been fueled by the collapse of Zimbabwe’s water, sanitation and health systems. Many hospitals have shut down and most towns suffer from poor water supply, broken sewers and uncollected waste. With the upcoming rainy season even more infections could occur as water sources become contaminated.
These numbers now seem staggering to the point that one might think efforts are fruitless, and insignificant. How can we really expect to make a change?
The answer is apparent when we talk about the positive numbers -
1247 - the number of water projects in progress or completed by 13 partner organizations and funded by charity: water as of January 19, 2009, in 14 countries including Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, India, Kenya, Malawi, and more. In case you don’t know by now, charity: water is a non profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations by funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need.
187 - the number of cities worldwide participating in Twestival, which was born out of the idea that if cities were able to collaborate on an international scale, but working from a local level, it could have a spectacular impact. “By rallying together globally, under short timescales, for a single aim on the same day, the Twestival hopes to bring awareness to this global crisis.” Twestival is organized 100% by volunteers around the world and 100% of the money raised from these events will go directly to support charity: water projects.
20 - the number of dollars that can give a person in Africa clean, safe drinking water for 20 years. 100% of charity:water funds goes directly to project costs.
1 - the most important number of all, one person becoming aware of the critical need, advocating by telling others, and supporting this global event by attending Austin Twestival or their local Twestival event. If you can’t make it, follow the event @austintwestival and donate to Austin’s efforts at charity: water.
We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
- Mother Theresa
We have had a great response to our request for raffle items in the few weeks we have been planning Austin Twestival. The Austin Twestival Planning Team is grateful to all of our sponsors and contributors. An extra special thanks to the volunteers who helped me gather cool items, especially @katmandelstein and @reanimated. With that, here’s the final tally of raffle items:
Every person who buys a ticket online or at the door receives one raffle ticket. More raffle tickets will be available for purchase at the event, $3 for one ticket or $5 for every 2 tickets. Keep in mind that some of these items are valued up to $500, so every ticket you buy increases your chance of winning!
Have questions or comments? Send a @ to me at @snax. We hope to see you at Austin Twestival!
1.1 billion people. You know how we all think Texas is big? Well, approximately
44 TIMES AS MANY PEOPLE AS OUR POPULATION DO NOT HAVE SOMETHING CLEAN TO DRINK.
44 Texases worth of people don’t know if they are going to get diseases like cholera, dysentery, or typhoid every time they consume something they need every single day to survive.
We won’t get into detail (you can go to Wikipedia for that), but these diseases basically cause an upset stomach that causes diarrhea to the point of death. These diseases kill 4500 children around the world every single day. Over 184 cities on six continents have decided that it’s time to end this cycle of poverty for every man, woman and child on this earth. We are asking you to join us.
Twestival is a great opportunity for us to have a good time, but we are having a good time to celebrate our initiative to end the lack of clean drinking water. By buying a ticket, you could be providing clean drinking water for one person for 18 years. By getting or becoming a corporate sponsor, you could be providing funds for a well for an entire village of mothers, fathers, and children. These people want to end their cycle of poverty, but without clean water, there is little hope for them.
So buy a ticket. Become a sponsor. Donate a raffle prize. Just get involved. For ways you can make a difference, just ping @austintwestival on Twitter or email Michelle Greer at michelle(at)michellesblog.net and we will certainly put you to work. For sponsorship info, please ping Brian Buser at @brianbuser or brianbuser(at)gmail.com. For raffle prizes, please ping Debbie Cerda at @snax or snaxxx(at)gmail.com.
For having ten days still, we aren’t doing so bad for exposure. Here are the blogs/sites mentioning Twestival:
The Austin Chronicle
Do512.com
Nerdabout
Gary’s Guide
The Backline Show
FiSpace
East Austinite
Some Strange Ideas
The LiveJournal Community
Prelude Interactive
Michelle’s Blog
Our media partner Mashable announced today that Live Earth is also now a media partner in Twestival. Live Earth was host of the largest global entertainment event in history (2007’s Concerts for a Climate in Crisis) and is owned by Al Gore. Twestival in general has also been covered by WebProNews, Laughing Squid, and too many blogs to even count. Our Google Alerts are blowing up.
One in six people doesn’t have clean water. Here’s how you can help Austin Twestival:
1.) Buy your ticket here. 100% of proceeds go straight to charity:water.
2.) Blog it. Charity:water provides both a poignant video on why this is important as well as badges for your site.
3.) Donate and tell your friends and companies you know to donate. Here’s the page to do so. If ten of us tell 20 people to donate $20 each, we will have earned enough for a water well. This requires so few resources to impact so much change. You matter in this campaign. Never forget that.
4.) Spread the word. Feel the joy of knowing you are bringing life to those who need it most.
There are a lot of causes out there. So why pay so much attention to this one? I (Michelle Greer) am just some two-bit tech marketer, but check out this video charity:water made on the subject:
\"Time Bomb\" by Beck
If you think water relief is a complete no-brainer issue as I do, consider embedding this on your blog. Thanks.
P.S. I have no idea why WordPress MU won’t accept my embed codes. If someone wants to volunteer to fix this stuff and add sponsors to the sidebar, we would much appreciate it.
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Imagine that you lived in a place where water borne diseases were rampant. Your local water source is contaminated, and typhoid outbreaks occur whenever major flooding occurs - probably from sewage and contaminants entering your water supply. Thousands of people become ill, and many even die. There are no trained water staff to effectively treat the water to protect human health. Seems worlds away, doesn’t it?
It’s not -
You are right here in Austin, Texas, only the year is 1911 and drinking water is untreated. It wasn’t until 1915 when the State’s first sanitary engineer Vic Ehlers was appointed by the governor to make inspections, investigations, and reports of water borne disease epidemics, and the City of Austin was convinced to chlorinate their water in 1916. Typhoid from public water sources in Texas was eradicated as Mr. Ehlers traveled from town to town, educating water operators and engineers.
The Sanitary Engineering Division of the Texas State Health Department was subsequently formed to guide and develop the state environmental programs. In 1973 Congress promulgated the Safe Drinking Water Act, setting national drinking water standards.
We are fortunate. Right now, 1.1 billion people on the planet don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water. That’s one in six of us.
By participating in Austin Twestival which supports charity: water, you can affect a change. This non profit organization is working with international partners including A Glimmer of Hope and Water for People to bring clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of the money raised goes to direct project costs, funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need. Just $20 can give one person in a developing nation clean water for 20 years.
Come have fun at our event, but you can really help us now by blogging, linking, tweeting, anything to get the word out! If you want to volunteer, send a tweet to @snax or visit our Volunteer page on the Austin Twestival wiki.
Show the world that everything truly is big in Texas, including our hearts!
There was a lot of back and forth between me and Josh Shepherd about what music to include. We liked the singers in the round, but since it was three people from three bands, we didn’t think it would draw. So who stepped up?
T BIRD AND THE BREAKS.
PLAY IT THAT VIDEO LINKED ABOVE. If I weren’t on a crappy version of WordPress, I’d embed it for you. If it doesn’t make you at least tap your foot, then you should seriously have someone check your pulse because you are probably dead. They get what this is all about and will be lending all of their mojo to raise money for charity:water. Although there are eleven members of this band, they are playing for just $450. This covers their expenses to actually get the band there. We are looking for a company to step up and cover this expense. You will be considered an Austin Twestival sponsor for doing so and will get signage, linkage, and mad love from the community. Please email michelle(at)michellesblog.net if interested.
We are crazy lucky and many of the other Twestival cities are jealous now.
The sumo suits we will have for the Sumo Suit Smackdown look like this.
Amiando is a bit jacked, so when they fix it, I’ll put up the links to purchase tickets. I PROMISE. Just make sure to keep February 12 clear and get your babysitter if you need one.
