It turns out fundraising for charity is not as easy as we thought.
Every summer tropical sno has contributed a portion of our profits to a charitable cause that we believe in. During our first summer, the support of our customers contributed to Haitian relief in the wake of the devastating 2010 earthquake. Specifically, we supported a treatment center for elephantiasis - an often neglected tropical disease that once reached epidemic levels of infection among the Haitian population. Today, the disease has almost been eradicated from Haiti thanks in part to the efforts of treatment centers such as the one we supported. Last summer, we worked to raise awareness of the World Water Crisis. 4,500 children die every day around the world because they lack access to clean drinking water so last year we partnered with charity:Water, an organization that builds freshwater wells across the developing world. And while we had tremendous support from our customers, the World Water Crisis is, unfortunately, far from resolved.
We are committed to supporting direct action and progress towards the goals of organizations that share our humanitarian beliefs. This year, we had hoped to be able to raise money on behalf of the Red Cross to support the victims of the recent Oklahoma City tornadoes. Unfortunately, we've recently determined that our ability to raise money for this specific cause has been limited due to the nature of Red Cross fundraising. Therefore, we are suspending our campaign for the Red Cross.
While we were disappointed by our inability to support this cause, there is a silver lining. We will resume our fundraising on behalf of charity:Water. Last summer our goal was to raise $5,000 to finance the construction of a freshwater well. While we did donate roughly a quarter of our profits to this goal, we were not able to achieve our target amount.
So for the rest of this summer, we want to finish what we started a year ago. In the past year, I have heard several times from the charity:water team, expressing their gratitude for the support of the Hinsdale community. Charity:Water is an organization that commits 100% of the donations they receive to work in the field and we're excited to partner with them again.
I personally believe that solving the Water Crisis is the greatest humanitarian challenge that the world faces; I am exhilarated and honored to have another opportunity to work with an organization devoted to solving the Water Crisis. We will take the donations we received this week and send them to the Red Cross, so that there is no false advertising to those who have already contributed. Now we're are asking the entire Hinsdale Community to support another effort to do our part in solving the World Water Crisis. I stand by the belief that the world is more malleable than we think, and it's waiting for us to hammer it into shape. The Water Crisis is a solvable one -- and we'll end it through projects like this. I hope you'll support us.
Happy Fathers' Day. We hope to see you next week.
www.charitywater.org
Tropical Sno Hinsdale is located at 42 S Washington Street, across from King Keyser. Our hours of operation are Monday-Saturday, Noon-10pm.
