In January, Jessica Biel and Isabel Lucas will be among a group of celebrities as they set off to climb the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro, to raise awareness of the importance of safe drinking water. And to celebrate, Look To The Stars will give away a PUR water filtration system to one lucky reader.
The stars will be joined by Ethiopian singer Kenna and rapper Lupe Fiasco, and the Summit On The Summit expedition will raise money and awareness for the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and PlayPumps International.
“My dad almost died as a child from waterborne diseases in Ethiopia, and he had talked to me about digging a well there, and I thought, ’I have too many friends who would be concerned with the subject of clean water,” said Kenna. “Maybe I can help out.’”
And it is a challenge Lupe Fiasco is looking forward to: “I’m an adventure junkie. Part of the motivation is beating Kenna to the top. Sabotaging his tent, taking the lining out of his coat, lacing it with ants or something like that. [The water crisis in Africa] is a universal problem; it’s all mounting to the point where eventually there’s no clean water left. If I did a song, it would be jam-packed with so much information, it would almost be like we fit the substance of an entire interview in three and a half minutes.”
Dr. Greg Allgood, Founder and Director of the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program (CSDW), will be joining the climb as the water issues expert, educating the climbers on the global water crisis and what is being done to help. PUR Water Filtration Specialists is sponsoring this initiative and, for every PUR system purchase, one week of clean drinking water is provided to children in the developing world through the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program: which has, to date, provided over 1.8 billion liters of clean water worldwide. You can also sponsor a foot of the climb – $2.00 provides 200 liters of clean drinking water for those in need, and $10 will provide a clean water solution for a child for 1.5 years.
The CSDW program distributes small, easy-to-use PUR packets of powdered mixture that remove impurities found in contaminated drinking water. Click HERE to see a demonstration. Through the use of these packets PUR has provided 1.8 billion liters of clean water to those in developing countries and at the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative made a new commitment to provide 4 billion liters by 2012. This will prevent an estimated 160 million days of diarrheal illness and save an estimated 20,000 lives.
Look To The Stars is giving away a PUR Filtration System to one lucky reader. All you have to do is name one of the celebrities taking part in the Summit On The Summit event. Email the answer, as well as your full name and address (including your country), to contests@looktothestars.org by Tuesday, December 1 and we’ll put you in the draw.
