Judas Priest -- GUMMBY!

I almost forgot -- Gummby e-mailed me three weeks ago (maybe longer) to suggest that you people with your fat Stimulus Checks ought to get on this link and build a well in Africa.

I told him I'd blog it, but I have been stupid-busy, and I'll be too stupid-busy to track whether we got any play through the link. You do what your conscience tells you to do with your fat G for people who don't have a water cooler or a Brita filter within 1000 miles.

Well. And You?

This is the sales summary from CafePress on what we have sold since 12/27/2006. I guess that's better than nothing ... you still have a week to buy junk and give people water in the process.

Well update

The goal, if you will remember, was to raise $3000 for build a well in Africa for people with no water by Christmas.

Now let's be honest: I'm disappointed, but I don't think less of any of you.

As of last tally, on the 22nd of December, 2006, we were at $595.

Aaron from Blood:Water mission says that's a great turnout, a great help, and I pray God bless him for his spirit. But here's the math I did:

1. Google Analytics says in the last 90 days, we have averaged 310 unique visitors per day, counting weekends. If we back out weekends, we average about 500 visitors a day.
2. Using the high number, we barely got $1 per person. For Gospel work.
3. Using the low number, we got about $2 per reader.

That's better than nothing, but, um, yeah.

$2 per reader? For people who are excited to read things like "Christmas is about the wrath of God"? $2?

Listen: rather than beat you up, it's money-where-my-mouth-is time. Beginning today, all markup from the Pawn Shop through the end of January 2007 will go to build a well at Blood:Water mission. I'll be updating the template over there in the next couple of days to remind people who fall out of bed and find it that this is what I'm doing, but to help the pot here, the t-shirt money from the next 30-ish days for Homeboys and Pyro fans and reformation police and what-have-you will go to giving people dying from thirst rather than to me.

Just to be clear, my markup on this stuff is about $3 per item. Little things like buttons and stickers are marked up less. Weekly, I'll update by publishing the current sales results, including what we have made toward the project. When CafePress sends me the check, I'll send it to them.

I'm serious, and I want you to be serious.

UPDATE: Well, it turns out, I guess, that it is cheaper to give $3 to BWM than it is to buy a $20 t-shirt and give $3 to BWM. However, the giving page at BWN has changed.

When you get there, there is a "MEMO" field. In the Memo field, type "centuri0n" so we can track the giving. Now go get it -- either with a junk shop relic or by just giving $5 to the work.

This came in this morning's mail. It's relevant to your donation to blood:water mission ...

Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2006 08:25:08 - 0500

From:    "Daniel Bengston" 
To:      "Frank Turk" 
Subject: Blood:water mission donation

Frank,

Don't know if this is 
something that you want to let folks 
know, but the confirmation email I 
got from their site got put in my 
"junk" mail (hotmail), so for folks 
wanting a receipt/record, they might 
want to be aware. I don't consider 
hotmail very sensitive like my gmail 
account, so if hotmail does it, it 
might do it on other email servers 
as well. Most email systems I know 
empty junk mail after a certain 
period of time.

Keep up the great work on the blog.

Dan B. 

well update

Date:    Thu, 09 Nov 2006 13:27:45 -0600
Subject: Re: Follow up
From:  "Aaron Sands" {aaron[at]bloodwatermission.com}
To:      "Frank Turk" {carm_centuri0n[at]yahoo.com}

Frank

Thanks for the follow up. In online donations I see 18
donations of $490 so far under centurion/centuri0n. There
may be some mailed in that I can't see right now, but hopefully
this helps.

This is great, and please let us know what we can do along
the way.

Aaron

Donor Relations and Development
Blood:Water Mission
P.O. Box 682545, Franklin, TN  37068-2545
aaron[at]bloodwatermission.com

www.bloodwatermission.com
615.550.4296 | 866.550.4296

That about one-sixth of one well. Six weeks to Christmas -- find $10 and give clean water to people who don't have any.

well ... (2)

Yeah, something else has happened in the last 2 weeks that has gotten my attention, and I mentioned it when I put the new button to the right: BloodWater Mission.

Here's the deal: we -- you and me, all of you 300-400 people who read my blog and me and my wife -- need to raise $3000 to build one well in Africa. My quick calculation is that if we each give $10, we can do it before Christmas.

The question is: how do we know that we have raised $3000 to build a well?

Listen -- you click the link at the right that says "obey Jesus with $1.00", read the fine print, and then click through to the donations page. When you key in your donation, in the personal info in the "COUNTRY" line, type "centuri0n" (with a ZERO, not an "O"). That's how BloodWater will track our donations, and we can get updates from them to find out if we have raised the money for a well or not.

UPDATED: My mistake -- you have to put "centuri0n" in the COUNTRY field in the BILLING INFO, not the "personal info". In the personal info, the Country field is a drop-down; it's a text box in the billing info. It makes me happy that readers e-mailed me about this because it means you're trying to donate. Nice work.

When I get back to work, I'm going to drop $25 in the kitty. And I'm not ashamed to say this: what, exactly, were you going to spend $10 on this month that you could put off until after Christmas? I just has to replace the alternator in my car, and I did it myself to save the labor so I could drop my $25 for this campaign. Maybe you could drink water from the dispenser at work for the next 3 weeks and put your Starbucks money, or your Dr. Pepper money, or your Dasani money in a jar and send that.

You know: if you think these people who don't have a sink could use a drink this year. You.

well ...

There's a new link in the sidebar that you have an obligation to visit. It's a link to Blood:Water Mission. {see graphic to my left}

Look: Jars of Clay may be woggly Methodists, but they have the good sense to do something specific about a tragedy they have seen with their own eyes. And yes: the FAQ page for this site has the chummy little banner in the corner for one.org, which is a complaint for another day -- one which I have already covered in depth about a year ago.

All that said, it takes about $1 to provide a person in Africa with clean water for a year. $1 -- the buck you are about to put in the Coke machine.

I've e-mailed these folks to start a campaign to build a well, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, I'll bet you could use the water cooler today and give your buck to some guy who doesn't have a buck or a cup of cold water.