There’s nothing convenient about having a charitable heart and few things illustrate this more than Wherever the Need (www.wherevertheneed.org), an organization that targets poverty and ill health through the implementation of sanitation, water and livelihoods. For many of us, complaining about sanitation means tiptoeing around a gas station bathroom on a long road trip or waiting on a plumber to fix a busted pipe. Yet for a large portion of the world, poor sanitation often means disease and even death.
Shocking Statistics
Every 17 seconds, a child under the age of five dies from intestinal and diarrheal illnesses, which are caused by poor sanitation and insufficient clean water resources. The result is a daily death toll of approximately 5,000 children; more than those with HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles combined. In total, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports an estimated 2.5 billion people do not have access to satisfactory toilet facilities, resulting in the spread of multiple diseases for both children and adults.
Wherever the Need
Founded in 1997, Whatever the Need (WTN) addresses lacking sanitation infrastructure by collaborating with developing countries such as India, Kenya, Uganda and Sierra Leone to provide sanitation and water through specialized “eco-san” toilets. Whatever the Need also facilitates the conversion of human waste for local agriculture usage. Throughout their efforts, WTN emphasizes projects that are naturally sustainable and can be implemented without materials that damage the planet.
“It’s about time that sanitation, the lack of which causes the world’s biggest unaddressed public health crisis, stops being a dirty word,” says Rose George, proponent of eco-san toilets and author of The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why it Matters.
TwitterforSh-tters.com
Let’s face it. It’s hard to imagine an ensemble of celebrities singing lyrics about toilets. That’s why Whatever the Need has partnered with Skadaddle Media (www.skadaddlemedia.com) to launch TwitterforSh-tters.com (www.TwitterforSh-tters.com), a grassroots social media campaign hoping to get people talking shit again. “We firmly believe that the power is in the people, and what better way to ignite conversation about this age-old, taboo subject than via social media,” says Beverly Visty-Doman, executive director of Wherever the Need USA. “We all go to the bathroom, regardless of social status, location, age, or gender, yet no one wants to speak about it. Our goal is to drive awareness about the role sanitation plays in diminishing poverty and disease, while facilitating the construction of eco-sanitation toilets wherever they are needed.”
How You Can Help
TwitterforSh-tters.com is looking for a few good Tweeters. The hope is to get people with Twitter accounts (www.twitter.com) to mention the website in their tweets, increasing awareness and raising donations on behalf of Wherever the Need.
It doesn’t matter how many people follow you or what you want to talk about; sincere or humorous, the goal is to just shoot the, er, tweets off about anything that’s on your mind. People can sign up on the website as “Daily Dumpers”, tweet to raise awareness for WTN and may also follow the website through their twitter handle of @tw_tter4sh_tter (www.twitter.com/tw_tter4sh_tter).
Skadaddle Media
“With thousands of worthy causes, perhaps all of which are admittedly sexier and more approachable than sanitation, we felt it was important to create a grassroots communications initiative for Wherever the Need that addresses the issue in a bold manner,” says Todd Lieman, founder and co-president of Skadaddle Media, Inc.
Founded in 2008 by Lieman and Jon Wank, Skadaddle Media is a creative marketing
studio which specializes in the development and execution of ideas that solve specific communications challenges. The company is based in Sausalito and is the group behind Mutual of Omaha’s highly-successful national “aha moment” campaign.
Getting Involved
Often, charities that don’t seem glamorous are the ones that most need help from everyday people. Whatever the Need is the perfect example of a charitable organization that both needs and reflects what is wonderful about grassroots efforts and support. To learn more about the cause or how you can help, visit the aforementioned websites:
Whatever the Need: www.wherevertheneed.org
TwitterforSh-tters.com: www.TwitterforSh-tters.com)
Follow TwitterforSh-tters.com: www.twitter.com/tw_tter4sh_tter
