The African Well Fund is pleased to announce the launch of the 10th Annual Build a Well for Bono’s Birthday fundraiser. The organization is celebrating a “Decade of H2OPE” by raising funds to benefit a water, sanitation and hygiene project in Burkina Faso that will be implemented by African Well Fund partner Africare and aims to create a healthy environment for 257 schoolchildren.
For more information on the project, click here.
From World Water Day, March 22nd, through Bono’s birthday, May 10th, the African Well Fund invites U2 fans and others who are inspired by Bono’s tireless activism on behalf of Africa to make a donation through the organization’s website in honor of his 52nd birthday. The organization will also be raising funds by selling limited-edition prints through its website, T-shirts through its Zazzle store and by hosting a special eBay auction in May. All donors are invited to add their names and birthday wishes to a card on the African Well Fund website that will be sent to Bono in care of Principle Management.
“It’s hard to believe that this is the 10th Bono birthday well fundraiser,” said Diane Yoder, African Well Fund board vice chairman. “I still remember the very first fundraiser, our goal was to raise $1,000 to build a single well and we raised $10,000. We were so blown away by the response. It really hit home seven months later when we received our first well report from Africare. To realize that that $10,000 was really having a direct impact on so many people’s lives was such an overwhelming feeling. I remember feeling very humbled and privileged to have been a part of the project.”
Donations from the nine previous Build a Well for Bono’s Birthday fundraisers have totaled more than $213,000 and have been used to fund clean water and sanitation projects implemented by AWF partner Africare to benefit more than 56,000 people in Angola, Benin, Liberia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
“Bono’s music and advocacy may have been the inspiration, but the idea behind AWF gave me the hands and feet to be able to turn that inspiration into a reality,” said Rob Trigalet, African Well Fund board chairman. “AWF has changed the shape and the course of my life and I could not be prouder of the all people who worked so hard to accomplish all of these things. From the U2 fans, to the elementary school students, from the individuals who organized fundraisers to the folks that have donated $5 here or $10 there and from each and every volunteer to all of the Board of Directors past and present, who have worked so hard. It’s the cumulative effect of all these people, from all walks of life, coming together that have made a positive and lasting change in the lives of so many Africans possible.”
The African Well Fund is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the mission of funding clean water and sanitation projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Since its founding in 2002, the organization has raised more than $985,000 to fund 242 projects in 15 countries, benefiting more than 325,000 people.
