Passports with Purpose 2012: Help Bring Clean Water Access to Haiti
Filed Under: Hope for Humanity by Daniel Noll and Audrey ScottThis is a story about travelers giving back. It’s a story of people working together to support communities far from home. And it’s a call to action: buy a $10 ticket for a chance to win some fabulous prizes and become part of a story about bringing clean water to a couple of communities in Haiti.
Washing with clean, safe water in Haiti. Photo courtesy of Water.org.
Over the last few years Passports with Purpose (PwP) has helped build libraries in Zambia, village houses in southern India, and a school in Cambodia. By bringing together the blogging community, travel industry and people like you, PwP has raised over $191,000 for these projects.
We’re honored to have participated in each of these initiatives as bloggers and contributors. And this year is no different. Keep reading to find out why we’re so excited about this year’s PwP cause, the prize we are hosting, and how you can get involved.
Water and Passports with Purpose 2012
Clean water access is something we’ve become more passionate about recently. Some of you might remember that we donated our birthdays this year to Charity Water to raise money to build wells that would provide communities in Africa with access to clean water. Water: a resource that many of us take for granted. For almost one billion people, access to water can mean life rather than death, school instead of no school, and wellness rather than chronic sickness — for almost a billion people throughout the world.
When PwP zeroed in on clean water access this year, we thought “Great fit!”
PwP’s goal this year: to raise $100,000 to build five community wells in the Boucan Carre and Mirebalais (about 7,400 people) areas of Haiti. These five wells are part of a broader 18-month project organized by Water.org and executed by its local partner Haiti Outreach.
The timing for this clean water project in Haiti could not be better. Many areas of Haiti hard were hit hard by hurricane Sandy earlier this month. Crops were washed, already scarce clean water became even more difficult to find, and rates of cholera and other waterborne diseases shot up.
We’d like your help to make these wells a reality. Don’t worry, getting involved with PwP and helping to bring clean water access to Haiti is easier than you think. It’s even kind of fun.
I’m in! What do I do now?
Go to the PwP Donate page and check out the prizes on offer. Each prize has a minimum value of $100; many are worth much more. Each year the prizes get cooler and more varied, so be sure to check ‘em all out.
Decide which prize (or prizes) you’d like to win most and purchase $10 ticket(s) to be entered into a raffle to win that prize. The more tickets you buy for a prize, the higher the chance that you’ll actually win it. So if there’s something you would really, really like, you may want to splurge for a couple of tickets.
Ten dollars goes a long way in many parts of the world and you may win a fabulous prize. Everyone wins here.
PwP fine print: All tickets must be purchased on the PwP donate page between November 28, 2012 and December 11, 2012. Prizes will be announced on December 18, 2012.
Our Hosted Prize for Passports with Purpose
What more appropriate prize for this fundraiser than one of travel? This year, we’ve teamed up with Skyscanner for $200 to be used towards a flight of your choice found on Skyscanner, a clever online flight booking engine. How you might use this prize towards your next trip — and the paths to finding them on Skyscanner — are truly endless. So dream away!
We began using Skyscanner a couple of years ago after discovering that, among other features, its flight search capabilities had included all low-cost airlines, something relevant to our own flight search landscape. As a bonus, they offer some fun and flexible search functions, including the ability to enter your departure airport while leaving the arrival destination blank. Skyscanner will then serve up a list of destinations by price. For those of us with wanderlust, this can prove dangerously and deliciously distracting.
The fine print on the prize:
1) Entrants must be 18 years of age or older.
2. The winner will be awarded $200 (or Euro/GBP equivalent) worth of flights found on Skyscanner. The Skyscanner team will book and pay for your selected flights to the value of $200.
3. If you’d like to use the $200 as credit towards more expensive flights, Skyscanner will provide $200 towards the cost of your chosen flights.
4. Flights must be booked within 6 months of winner being contacted.
5. By accepting this prize, the winner accepts full and complete responsibility for their own safety and welfare at all times, including familiarizing themselves with visas, insurance, and other travel requirements.
6. Any extra activities and costs beyond the specified prize are the responsibility of the winner.
7. Prizes are non-transferable.
What are you waiting for? Buy a Ticket! Have some fun!
This holiday season, help us help others – buy a ticket and spread the word of PwP to friends who would enjoy contributing and getting involved. Thanks for your support and we look forward to helping fund five community wells in Haiti!
One last time, here’s the PwP donate page. Now get to it! Good luck…and travel well!
November 29th, 2012 at 6:51 pm
Great prize. I love passport with purpose. I am a new travel blogger, and I was wondering how I help them on my site? Thanks Dan and Aubrey.
November 30th, 2012 at 7:50 pm
@Stephen: Great to hear that you want to get more involved with Passports with Purpose. A couple of ideas on how you can support this initiative:
1) Write about it on your blog and link to the donate page: http://passportswithpurpose.org/donate/
2) Host a widget on your blog (sidebar) so that you can promote PwP and keep track fo its progress: http://passportswithpurpose.org/assets/
3) Support PwP on your Facebook page and/or Twitter accounts and tell people about how they can get involved.
December 5th, 2012 at 10:29 am
Thanks Aubrey those are great Ideas! Can’t wait to help.
December 7th, 2012 at 3:22 am
I think that this is a great initiative and a great way to give back!
December 12th, 2012 at 1:42 pm
And the good news is that Passports with Purpose’s goal was reached this year – $100,000 raised to build five wells in Haiti! Woohoo!!