We are at $2243 and we’ve received several messages today of donations on the way. That makes us just $250 shy of the 1/2 mark after one week. Thank you for donating. Thank you for sharing this with others. Thank you for the letters, emails, and messages letting us know why you donated. Please continue to pray for this journey and to share your stories of this experience with us.
Are you watching this parade, or are you participating? March 6, 2010
Hi friends, When we started this group a week ago, we thought maybe we’d have 100 or so friends join us at best. It’s so awesome that a week later, we have over ONE-THOUSAND people who’ve joined the Twenty-One for Water group on Facebook (Click Here to check that out), even more who’ve participated in other ways, and at this point we’ve raised over $2,000 to go towards digging a well in Sub-Saharan Africa though Just Hope International!
Although our goal is to raise $5,000 so that we can dig a well, our invitation has never been just to give us a donation for our project. It’s not about the money, and it’s certainly not about us. The point is that we are trying to write an amazing story, where hundreds of lives are saved, and we want to invite you to be characters in this story with us. This is YOUR story, if you choose to become part of it.
Our good friend Doug reminded us of this quote from Donald Miller’s book A Million Miles In a Thousand Years, which is the book that inspired this whole thing in the first place: “Bob thought about it, though, and realized it’s more fun to be in a parade than to watch one. So he made a rule: nobody would be allowed to watch the parade. But anybody could participate.”
There are people all over the country, both strangers and friends, who have jumped in to this parade with us, who have made this their project and their story, and we have been incredibly blessed by that! We may have started this parade, but we don’t want any spectators, we want people walking with us, because THAT’S what this story is all about.
Are you watching this parade, or are you participating?
To play Twenty-One for Water via paypal, please go to: http://fivetofivethousand.wordpress.com/20/
If you need information about where to mail cash or a check, please email fivetofivethousand@gmail.com
Also, you can help out in a BIG WAY simply by helping spread the word about OUR project (your project and our project), by emailing your friends an invitation to check out this site, http://fivetofivethousand.wordpress.com
Words of Encouragement March 5, 2010
Of course, the financial part of this was to raise enough money to build a well. We need $5000 in order to do that. BUT, another part of what we wanted to do was to have others join us in the effort. We wanted (and want) others to be a part of this story to change lives on the other side of the world, and maybe even been transformed ourselves in the process. We keep saying that we’ve been blown away by the response to this project. One of the best parts are the letters and messages we are getting. Here are a few:
What a great challenge! I went to work Monday and shared your story (TwentyoneforWater) with my co-workers. Enclosed are my results. (They wanted to be a part of your challenge). I love the idea and pray you will meet your goal. Thank you guys for sharing and caring.
With that letter we received a donation and ANOTHER donation with the following letter:
I work with your Aunt XXXX. She was telling me about your wonderful idea of raising funds for building a well in Africa. Count me in! Enclosed is a check in the amount of $20. The Lord will bless you for your efforts to futher His Kingdom by providing this great gift of life. Remember that God is Great and He can supply. Nothing is impossible with Him. God bless you both.
One day later we received THIS letter with a donation:
Hi, I work with your Aunt XXXX and I was so excited to hear about your project. What a wonderful thing to do. We have a priest at my country parish that is from Africa and he talks often of how badly they need clean water. Since I feel this project is such a great undertaking, please accept my donation toward your project. Best of luck and hope you meet your goal. Praying for you from Illinois.
Today, we received this letter from a high school student with her donation enclosed:
This is for the Twenty-One for Water project! I’m so excited to be a part!
We received a phone call from a relative today who made a generous donation to help build this well. She does not use the computer, so she doesn’t have access to Facebook or this blog. She told us that she had recently seen something on TV about the need for clean water in many parts of the world, but she hesitated to make a donation because she wasn’t sure how to find out about the organization on TV. When she heard about our project and the fact that Just Hope International does not use any money donated for administrative costs, she knew God’s timing was perfect and couldn’t wait to participate.
In the last 24 hours, we have been contacted by and received donations from people in TN, GA, IL, IN, TX, NC, and CA. It is truly beautiful to see so many compassionate and generous hearts at work. I wonder why we don’t respond this way all the time…
Day Six March 5, 2010
We started off this morning thinking that today might be a slow day. We decided that that was ok and that even if our momentum toward $5000 slows, God is good and will make good of whatever we do. Then we got the mail this afternoon…. our grand total today is $1806 collected and we still have donations promised to come. Thank you for playing. Thank you for being a part of this with us. Thank you for keeping it going. We can’t wait to see where we go from here!
Phillipians 1:3-6
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident in this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Day Five March 4, 2010
Day 5 Grand Total: $1205 and we know of several more donations on their way. We still have some work to do to get there, but we also have over 1000 people joining us in this effort!
Another Character March 4, 2010
Our friend Betsy combines her creativity and her generous spirit. She makes all kinds of cute and girly items (bags, flip flops, bows, bow holders, etc) and then donates her proceeds to charity of one type or another. Her “better story” didn’t start two Sundays ago, but she continues to write it with her response to this “Living A Better Story Challenge.” Below, you can see her plan for the $10 she received last Sunday. In addition, she’s pledged the proceeds from her sales until March 14th to help us build the well. Here’s the link to her blog where you can learn more about her products and her plan:
http://betsysbowsandblessings.blogspot.com/
“THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO THAT CHALLENGE: I AM GOING TO GIVE AWAY 5 PRODUCTS. FOR A $5.OO DONATION YOU CAN HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN YOUR CHOICE OF ADULT FLIP FLOPS, KIDS FLIP FLOPS, HAIR BOW HOLDER OR A BEADED NECKLACE (THIS IS MY NEW ITEM). 100% OF THE MONEY IS DONATED.
THERE WILL BE FIVE WINNERS. ENTER AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WISH. DONATE AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE. $5.00 GETS YOU ONE CHANCE.
MY GOAL IS TO RAISE ENOUGH MONEY TO SPONSOR A CHILD ($300) THROUGH THE AMAZIMA PROGRAM. FOR ALL OF YOU WHO ENTER I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED ON THE NAME AND PICTURE OF THE CHILD WE HAVE SPONSORED SO YOU CAN PRAY FOR THIS CHILD AND THE AMAZIMA MINISTRY ORGANIZATION. http://www.amazima.org/”
One Character in the Story March 4, 2010
Our friend Beth is a college student. She checks in with me nightly for an update on the total and has invited her friends to join us. Today, she posted this on our Facebook page today:
I am amazed by what has been done thus far! Today, I was looking through the fans of this page and realized that there are so many college and high school kids involved in this campaign, many of whom I have grown up with. As a college student on a budget, I understand it may be hard financially to find the $20 to donate. But look at it in this perspective. What can you get for $20 these days? A nice dinner with friends, about 20 soft drinks, 2 movie tickets (maybe). So I guess what I am asking is, are you willing to make a sacrifice? Just once. In order to give people clean water for years to come? If every fan takes this initiative, we won’t have just build one well but 3, almost 4! So the question is, are you willing to “live a better story”?
Beth Smith
Ripples March 4, 2010
Today we received this message via Twitter…
“ Just wanted to say I love what you guys are doing and I’m proposing the multiplying gifts idea to our church in LA. Keep it up!”
We love to see this rippling outward!
Day Four March 3, 2010
We hit an exciting milestone today… $1045 in donations collected at this point AND nearly 900 people as a part of our facebook group. I realize that several of the facebook group members have already donated and that some people are just a part to be a part or will support us through their prayers, but in theory, if everyone in the group donated $5, we’d be at our goal. Just food for thought… 
We have been humbled by the emails and messages about how this project is having an effect on friends and family and even people outside of our immediate circle. God is good, all the time…
