WE HAVE TWO PUMPS!!!

Official tally just came in from Playpumps International. A little over $28,000 came in with a final donation from Anonymous G. At $14,000 per pump, Aquathon's followers and participants helped us procure 2 Playpumps Systems for Africa!

Hurray! Pat yourselves on the back! Glow in the aftereffects! You did it! We did it! We made history on Twitter and we helped two African communities!

Steve

Thank you to everyone!

Kirstie Alley and I would like you to thank you for a successful (albeit bumpy) day yesterday! We did it! Between the two of us, we either streamed and/or tweeted all day long. Tweets began at 2:30 a.m. PST, Kirstie (and even I) streamed off and on until 8:00 p.m. PST, and I continued to tweet until 3:00 a.m. PST the following morning. A full 24 hours (and then some!) A handful of you even followed until the very last minute (thank you again for keeping me up!)

We made a total of $22,000 online through your donations, and still have checks coming in the mail, so stay tuned. The cost of a Playpumps structure is $14,000, and we'll need $28,000 to get 2 pumps. Kirstie has stated today that she will continue to pursue the additional $6,000 needed to achieve the second Playpump for Africa, and I am determined to help her. We will leave the donation page up until we meet this goal, and as long as Kirstie would like to leave it up.

Thank you for helping Aquathon make history, each and every one of you! You RT'd encouragement, messages about the needs of so many communities in Africa, and thank you's to donors.

We received support from celebrities including Brent Spiner, Alyssa Milano, Kathy Ireland, Nia Vardalos, Howie Mandel, and Ashton Kutcher. We were serenaded by the wonderful Carlos Bertonatti more than once during the day, live and on camera. We got to play with a lemur, and chatted live with Kirstie Alley over the phone.

Kirstie has mentioned repeating this again next year. I will let you know if plans firm up and when we begin the planning process. Let us just say that if we repeat the endeavor, it will have more planning for a grander event. Just you wait and see!

Steve Woods

Twibbon for your Avatar

Twibbon has created a small image you can add to the lower right-hand corner of your Twitter avatar, in support of Aquathon. Example on a handsome man below...

To add the image, visit http://twibbon.com/join/Aquathon2009 and provide your Twitter username and password. Click on the Support Aquathon 2009 button, and your Twitter image will be replaced with the same one, along with the small Aquathon image on the lower right.

Twibbon won't share your Twitter login information with anyone...

Steve Woods

Aquathon Support box

Thanks to @krisstepney's wonderful idea, Aquathon has created a new "I support Aquathon" type Twitter image box. Feel free to show your support between now and especially on July 25th, by placing this on your blog or website!

Looking forward to seeing the support out there!

Steve Woods

Aquathon donation information updated

The PlayPumps International Aquathon donation page is located at http://knowh2o.org/aquathon and allows you to donate directly (and securely) to Playpumps. We will be leaving this page up at Playpumps for the next few weeks, or until we achieve enough to purchase 2 Playpumps systems.

You can also mail a donation check to Playpumps International at 1717 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. - 7th Floor, Washington DC 20036.

Although Playpumps International's Aquathon donation site will accept donations as small as $1.00, you are free to donate more! Please know that a donation of $6.00 averages out to the cost of providing one child fresh drinking water for up to 10 years with a Playpump system.

Thank you for donating and for following @aquathon on Twitter!

Steve Woods

Kirstie Alley

Aquathon

Message from PlayPumps International

Playpumps International appreciates being selected as the beneficiary of Aquathon 2009, the first 24-hour Twitter-based telethon. Aquathon will take place on July 25, 2009 and is led by actress and activist Kirstie Alley, to raise funds for Playpumps systems.

Playpumps International, supported by donors throughout the world, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping improve the lives of children and their families by providing easy access to clean drinking water, enhancing public health, and offering play equipment to millions across Africa. To date, PlayPumps International has donated more than 1,300 PlayPump water systems in South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia.

More information on PlayPumps International can be found at http://www.playpumps.org, and forthcoming details on Aquathon will be available at http://aquathon2009.blogspot.com or on Twitter at @aquathon.

PLAYPUMPS CHOSEN

It's official...Playpumps International (http://www.playpumps.org) has been chosen by Kirstie Alley as the recipient of Aquathon's efforts leading up to and on July 25, 2009! Playpumps has years of experience in providing a fun and useful method of giving fresh, clean water to communities in Africa. They were highlighted by National Geographic for their efforts, as well as a number of other organizations.

Everyone who donates towards Aquathon's efforts is asked to await the placement of a new payment page at Playpump's website, which will allow Playpumps to tally all donations received through our (and your) efforts. Once the page is up, you can donate securely and directly to Playpumps on their site, and we'll be able to know how much our event helped.

I'll be posting more information at Twitter and here about Playpumps, but feel free to visit their website and learn more on your own! And don't forget to follow @aquathon @playpumps @kirstiealley and @_stevewoods on Twitter!

Steve Woods