This month, we're proud to bring you our latest video, a highlight reel from 2012, which recaps our activities over the last year and the positive impact made in Nicaragua.

Your support (nearly $80,000 donated in total!!) helped us bring life-improving and empowering technologies to over 20,000 people last year!

To view the video, click the Web Version link at the top of this e-mail to view this e-mail on your browser or use this link (http://youtu.be/yEovtl5ULSg).

Thank you to all those that made this work happen and a special thanks to our Multimedia Coordinator, Slade Kemmet, for donating his time and talent to create this video.

We’re springing into action by leaps and bounds, bringing clean water to over 100,000 Nicaraguans!

Nearly two years ago EOS teamed up with Compatible Technology International (CTI) to implement a water chlorination system to provide Nicaraguans with clean drinking water. In 2011, the partnership was born with the goal of bringing clean water to over 300 communities by 2014. The goal for EOS was to install a CTI-8 water chlorination system in over 150 different communities. Today we are nearly a year ahead of schedule with over 100 water chlorinators installed in individual communities!

Back in December we announced that we would be pushing hard to affect the lives of another 50,000 Nicaraguans in the first half of 2013. We are now excitedly approaching the finish line!  By the end of March, EOS will have installed 55 of the 92 total planned water chlorination systems. The remaining 37 systems will be installed in April to complete the initiative. That will bring our total to 100,000 Nicaraguans that now have access to clean drinking water.

In working on this project we’ve gotten to know great people and make wonderful friends by working with the Nicaraguan Health Department and local government offices and officials. This has truly been a team effort to work in multiple regions of Nicaragua and an honor to improve the lives of so many!

This has been our largest and most complex project to date, and our Nicaragua team has done an incredible job managing it. The picture above is one of the many training sessions our team has organized in partnership with local water and sanitation committees to educate communities about sanitation and the importance of water treatment.

Check out our Facebook photo album to see how we have impacted the lives of so many. To learn more about the CIT-8 water chlorination system you can visit our website, eosinternational.org.

Looking for an easy way to give back and fight poverty? Consider donating your next birthday to EOS International and the people of Nicaragua!

This year, we invite you to "donate your birthday" to generate awareness and donations for Nicaraguans living in poverty. Instead of receiving the usual birthday gift, consider asking family and friends to donate to EOS instead.

Our Multimedia Coordinator Slade Kemmet recently donated his 23rd birthday to EOS. Below he shares his motivation for doing so. If you're interested in donating your next birthday to fight poverty and support EOS, contact slade.kemmet@eosintl.org for more info.

A year ago my 22nd birthday was fast approaching, and I made mention of it to a good friend.  She stopped, looked at me, and very seriously said, “My 22nd birthday was one of the worst days of my life.” This comment took me by surprise, and instinctively I asked, “Well, what was the worst day of your life?” “My 30th birthday,” she responded.  She went on to explain how she spent those two birthdays in tears desperately trying to find a silver lining but falling short. 

We had a good laugh at this, but the damage was done.  My excitement soon soured and anxiety took hold.  The golden age of birthdays had passed.  Gone were the excited weeks of anticipation before I received my drivers license on my 16th birthday, the only day I would ever look forward to going to the DMV.  No longer did I appreciate the perks of adulthood that excited me on my 18th birthday.  Now I was left with only the dread of taxes, fear of jury duty, and deciding which 401K would most suit me.  The best birthday of all, my 21st, was now too in my rearview mirror.  The exhilaration I felt that day when the bartender asked for my ID, now was more of a hassle than anything.

My 22nd birthday passed without much enthusiasm and luckily no tears.  But this year as yet another birthday threw itself at me; I decided to do something special.  When the emails and phone calls started coming from friends and family asking what I wanted this year, I was about to respond with the usual ‘get me whatever’ before I realized that my birthday could once more be meaningful.

I already possessed everything I wanted: an amazing family, a great job, good friends, and a girlfriend I am very much in love with.  I also had a place to call home, clean water, and no shortage of food, but I realized that was not the case for everyone.  Through my travels to Nicaragua and the stories shared by EOS, I knew that there were many people out there without the basic needs to live life.  Families lived day to day without clean drinking water, minimal income, food scarcity, and no electricity.

So in an effort to make this birthday one to remember, I decided to donate my 23rd birthday to EOS International.  I explained to my family and friends that I already possessed everything I could ever want. I then instructed them to take whatever money they were going to spend on me and instead make a donation to EOS, and they responded with great eagerness.

When I told my brother-in-law and EOS co-founder, Wes, the idea, he jumped on board immediately, donating his 28th birthday.  A welcome relief to all those who know how difficult Wes is to shop for.

We don’t often consider what we can give on our birthdays, the one day a year dedicated entirely to us.  It is a day to celebrate our life, and the impact we make around us. So this year, I chose to use this special day to help improve the lives around me, even if we are worlds apart.  That brings me a lot of joy – and what could be a better gift than that?

Contact Slade if you'd like to donate your next birthday to fight poverty and support EOS!