Here are some interesting facts for you:

- 1.1 billion people in the world have no access to clean water (that’s 1 in 6 people).
- If we divided all the freshwater among all the people we could allot about 2.5 gallons/person/day. The average person in the US currently uses 300-400 gallons/day.
- Our planet is 70% water – of that 70%, 97.5% of that is saltwater leaving us to divide the remaining 2.5% of freshwater.
- Many communities must have wells in order to access underground aquifers for clean water
- Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.
- Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick. Those hours are crucial, preventing many from working or attending school. Additionally, collecting water puts them at greater risk of sexual harassment and assault.
- Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of unsafe water. Of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% are children under 5 years old.

Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?  And makes me feel a bit ill, frankly, especially as I hear Kris taking his morning shower and am wondering how many gallons are going down the drain right now.

Knit Witch’s Goal = $5,000 – don’t you think we can achieve this in order to provide clean drinking water for 500 underprivileged people? I do. I started it off with $50. I don’t care if you donate $5 or $500 – whatever you can afford helps. If you skip your morning Starbucks coffee tomorrow you can send that $5 as a donation instead. Send me an email to theknitwitch@gmail.com and let me know how much you donated so that I can keep track of our total – or – you can leave a comment on the blog. I’m keeping track of the progress over on the right hand side of the blog.

Go.  Read her whole post.  Help if you can, even just a few bucks.  She’s going to draw names from donors for prizes, if you need a little incentive. 

And thanks to Cristi for posting about it this morning and letting me know about it.

The scarves need to be sent to the Special Olympics by January 15th, 2009 – the address and other information are at the link above.

So, I know I’ll be picking up some yarn to make some scarves.  Who’s with me?

Betsy is a dear, dear friend.  She and I met because our husbands went to Penn State together, and I feel so lucky that I’ve gotten to know her.  We have such a blast when she comes to visit (We’ve done Stitches East together the last two years, and she’s coming up for MDS&W this year!!).

Anyway, Betsy and her hubby are both doing the Team in Training program and are going to be running the Mayor’s Marathon in Anchorage, AK in June.  For those of you who don’t know the Team in Training program, they run to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Betsy’s personal goal is $5,100.  Check out her blog and see the goodies she’s got up as prizes for those who donate.  It’ll be worth your while, I promise!!

What she is doing is holding a raffle to raise money to help the family with the expenses of the funeral and anything else they need while dealing with this horror. For a mere $2, you get an entry into Erin’s raffle, with two really amazing prize packages. Check out the details here, and please, give some thought to contributing.

You can check the details here, including the list of the loot in the packages, and the details on how to contribute.

Thanks.

The lovely Aimee of Fairie Knits (who I will be meeting at SAFF!  Yay!) is doing the Walk to Cure Lupus, and she needs your help.  Her goal is to raise $5000, and she’s about halfway there.  So, if you can spare a couple of bucks, go help a fellow yarnie do some good.

What’s in it for you?  A kick-ass array of prizes from an amazing bunch of knitters.  WendyKnits patterns…  Turtledaddy sock blockers… Signed copies of books from the Yarn Harlot and Crazy Aunt Purl… gorgeous bags and yarn…  Seriously – she has some amazing prizes.  Go look!  And then donate what you can.

The walk is this Saturday, so don’t wait!  Help her out!