Press

Other World Computing (OWC®) http://www.macsales.com is celebrating its 25th year of providing award-winning Mac® and PC products/services and green business practices with a fundraiser for charity: water. A non-profit organization, charity: water uses 100 percent of the donations received for bringing sustainable safe drinking water solutions to people in developing nations. To help reach its goal of $125,000 by the end of 2012, OWC will match up to $62,500 in donations made via their fundraising portal on the charity: water site.

In many developing countries, bogs and swamps are the only source of water. People spend hours lugging heavy containers of the tainted water to their villages every day. Clean drinking water is often literally under these people's feet, but they don't know how to find it or how to bring it up from the ground.

charity: water focuses on helping communities develop permanent water solutions such as freshwater wells, rainwater catchments and sand filters and teaching them how to maintain them.

Scott Harrison, CEO and Founder of charity: water explained how critical the water situation has become worldwide. "Right now, 800 million people around the globe (one out of every nine of us) don't have access to clean, safe drinking water. Unsafe water and the lack of basic sanitation cause 80 percent of all diseases on the planet and lead to 2.2 million deaths every year," he noted.

To launch its fundraising mission on November 1, OWC donated $1 for each of its existing 4,989 Twitter followers. For every person that signs up for OWC's '25th Year Celebration Kickoff' Sweepstakes, OWC will donate $1 and for every new Twitter follower OWC gains until December 31, OWC will donate another $1 to charity: water. For those who just wish to donate to this cause, a donation option for $20 is provided — which represents the cost of bringing clean drinking water to one person — and will be matched by OWC to help bring clean drinking water to two people. Any contribution under or over that $20 level will also be matched by OWC during the fundraising period of November 1 to December 31.

"Solutions have always been an integral part of OWC's corporate strategy," said Larry O'Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing. "Building on the same philosophy that drives our customer solutions and environmental solutions, we wanted to do something to celebrate our 25th year that would make a difference in the world. Our charity: water fundraiser enables us to join with our customers, vendors and anyone visiting our web site to provide a solution to the water crisis that will last for generations--the gift of clean water."

For more information, or to make a direct contribution, visit http://mycharitywater.org/owc-25th-anniversary.

About charity: water
Headquartered in New York City, charity: water is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing clean, safe drinking water and training to people in developing nations. 100 percent of the public donations it receives are used to directly fund sustainable water solutions in areas of greatest need. Since 2006, charity: water has funded more than 6,000 water projects around the world to help 2.5 million people gain access to clean water, hygiene education and improved sanitation. To learn more, visit http://www.charitywater.org.