Hi! My name is Cathy Power. I am an Early Childhood Educator from Canada. I volunteer with an organization called Belize Community Conservation.  Welcome to the launch of my fundraising campaign. Thank you for taking a moment to stop by and thanks for being so interested in what we are doing. There is a smile out there with your name on it!

Myself, together with two brilliant ladies, Heather from Belize Community Conservation and Mary Beth from Caribbean Student Environmental Alliance (S.E.A.) have been investing our time with the children and families in a community that is crying out for help. The three of us along with a bunch of beautiful Very Important People (V.I.P.) have put together an amazing experience for some really special kids each year.   We call it Kids4CleanWater Belize. We have been making a splash in a very rewarding community on Ambergris Caye, Belize called San Mateo. Our program is just a drop in the bucket but that is how you get the bucket filled! Take a few minutes to watch the video I have posted here and you will see for yourself the impact we are having in a community that needs this program and with children who are bright and shining stars. The future.

My tongue tends to run away with me when I talk about “my kids”. Let me try and tell you as much as I can as concisely as I can. I just wish you could experience and see it all through my eyes. Then you would know what I am talking about!!

THE PROGRAM   A week long adventure where the children and community come together to learn about various aspects of Clean Water and its impact on their own health and the environment they live in. They learn about the many aspects of how water is a huge part of their lives and how each and every one of them can make a difference. Wow. Empowering right? You bet!

THE COMMUNITY Less than a mile from the second largest reef in the world which boasts some of the best diving worldwide, on the fringe of San Pedro Town, is San Mateo. A place where many families live in a “shanty town” of small homes on stilts built with discarded wood and metal over a swamp where the mangrove once grew. We might call it a Shanty Town but please remember it is their home and their community. The children talk about their community with so much love and pride. (insert goosebumps here-I hope you feel them too)

San Mateo is a community desperate for the basic commodities that you and I take for granted, such as safe drinking water and sanitation or clean, healthy and safe places for their children to play.

We also do water testing and education in the community.  We have inked with many partners all working towards the same goals. 

**I have provided some links below if you want to explore the area more, read about the organizations and great people involved or view some fabulous pics of our adventures.**

I really could go on and on but I want to get to the part where I ask you to empty your pockets because that is why I am here after all. It’s really important. Please donate. Just $39 a day towards our three month campaign will make 2015 a success for the children. Give as much or as little as you want. It will move mountains!! Trust me I mean that. If you have ever done BBQ’s and garage sales and bake sales to fill that bucket with drops you will know exactly what I am talking about. Mountains!!

4 people a day giving $10 each and we will surpass our daily goal. #waterislife                                                                                        

2 people giving $25 each per day for a whole week equals daily donation goal for 9 days! #waterislife

Remember ***It’s okay to give extra. I don’t mind working at my math skills. Challenge me! ;)

It doesn’t need to be the same people all the time either however if you feel extra generous and want to give twice that’s okay too! There are no rules against it. I promise!

If a whole bunch of people just give a little once....we will get there.

Do you know that there are more then 7 billion people in the world.  We only need a teeny tiny portion of the world population to donate! Please be part of that population!! (How do THEY know that ?? ) After you donate…go here  -->http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/  It’s pretty cool, but donate first!!

100% of the funds I raise here support Kids4CleanWater. I don't get paid. No one gets paid. We are strictly volunteer on this project. We do all of our own admin work on our own free and sometimes not so free time. It’s important to me, to us, to the kids.  We feel we are making a difference and we love doing it.

One more thing... Please can you share?? Help us make this a success -- share it with your friends so they can share with their friends. We need to reach some of that massive population!  Thank you soooooo much!  #waterislife

Belize Community Conservation

Caribbean S.E.A.

Caribbean Youth Environmental Network (CYEN)

Video about San Mateo

News Article about our Program 

News article about water contamination

Where in the world is San Mateo? (video by 9 year old filmmaker Gigi Harris shares the difficult living conditions in San Mateo, Belize.)
This film won 1st place in category Documentary, Division II, at the 2010 Reel Spirit Young Filmmakers