It’s Not Just To Get Carney Drunk.

So - when I launched Charitini I had all these big plans for blowing it up into this huge charity site, and maybe that can still happen, but for now it’s just a little idea hooked on getting a few people to donate a few dollars in honor of a friend’s birthday. Even so, it doesn’t have to be a big site to make a big difference. I just got this email from my friend Jules Shell, the co-founder and Executive Director of Foundation Rwanda, which raises money for rape victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and funds the education of children born of those rapes, who have been largely left behind by Rwandan society. Here’s her email (she gave me permission to reprint):

Rachel,

I just opened the mail and got the most amazing thing from Network for Good. Your Charitini b-day party will sponsor the school fees for 2 kids to attend secondary school  in Rwanda this year!! So you turned  a year older and two kids got enrolled in secondary school— pretty remarkable. FR got an amazing $335.84 all because of you!  Thank you so much — it is the grassroots effort that makes all of the difference and people like you for making it  happen.    Are  you building out the Charitini idea- I want to send it to everyone I know.  I think its a brilliant way to organize around a b-day or holiday and do something good.

So thank you thank you thank you from deep within… its a lonely road doing this work and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support!

xx,

Jules

Anyhow, that made me feel pretty great, but humbled as hell, too. It’s fun to joke about Charity:Whiskey and getting John Carney drunk, but the fact is that these small micro-donations actually do make a concrete difference for people who need it way more than we ever will. So please consider making a small donation in Carney’s honor, or just in honor of two kids in Rwanda who now get to go to school.

(Donate: Charity: Water, Foundation Rwanda)