A few weeks ago, my colleague Frank Isca and I had the opportunity to represent Weidert Group at “the world’s largest gathering of inbound marketers,” HubSpot’s INBOUND 2013. While we arrived with the expectations to hear and learn from some of the brightest minds in the industry, like Seth Godin and Arianna Huffington, we were fortunate to also learn about a cause that goes well beyond marketing and into the realm of deeply inspirational.
During the first day of the conference we learned that HubSpot had teamed up with the international charity, charity: water, to help raise awareness about the problems of lack of access to clean drinking water across the world at INBOUND 13. Then, during the conference, attendees had the chance to hear the charity: water story told firsthand by CEO and founder, Scott Harrison, as well as participate in several fundraising activities.
In his keynote presentation, Scott explained how charity: water has saved thousands of lives by bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in 20 different countries throughout Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. Thanks to earlier commitments, by the time the conference ended HubSpot had contributed over $60,000 to help with their mission.
#INBOUND13 and #September. There's $2 for @charitywater from @HubSpot. Who wants to retweet it and keep it going?
— Dharmesh Shah (@dharmesh) August 20, 2013
After learning about charity: water and hearing Scott speak, Frank and I couldn’t help but feel inspired to make an impact of our own; not only as Inbound Marketers, but as human beings as well.
You see, a lot of us take our access to safe drinking water for granted. We don’t understand what it’s like to have to carry a 40 lb. jerry can for 6 hours everyday just to stay alive. We don’t know any of the 30,000 people that die each week from unsafe water. There are a lot of things about the many affects of unsafe drinking water that we don’t fully understand or know, but what we do know are things we can do to help bring about more change. With that being said I couldn’t be more excited to announce Weidert Group’s own charity: water campaign!
Although a bit more modest than HubSpot’s totals, our goal is to raise $2,000 by December 31, 2013.
Every dollar that we help raise will directly benefit families in Orissa, India where 100% of the money will be used to build clean water projects. When the project is done, charity: water will send us pictures and GPS coordinates to see the real people we benefited.
Remember, every little bit helps, even if it just seems like a drop in the bucket.
Topics: Weidert Group News
