My friend Kevin Hendricks is a fellow freelance writer whom I’ve known for several years. We’ve written for some of the same magazines, commented on each other’s blogs, and followed each other on Twitter for a long time. He’s a good guy. He edits the highly valuable Church Marketing Sucks blog, along with lots of other stuff. He recently adopted a kid from Ethiopia. He likes to do crazy stuff like shave his head.

So when Kevin sent me the email below, I had to jump in and make a donation. Because the water issue is an important one for me, but also because Kevin needs a haircut (see photo at right). I’m passing along his Bald Birthday Bash plans to you just in case you want to get involved, too.

Keep reading, and help Kevin celebrate his 30th birthday with style, water, and follicle removal.

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Hey Everybody,

Next month I turn 30. I don’t have any grand plans and I don’t want any fancy gifts. In fact, I’m doing something kind of weird for my birthday. I’m going to shave my head (again).

You may remember that I shaved my head last year for my birthday, after you folks helped raise enough money to double my goal to pay for our adoption and bring Milo home (thank you again, by the way). Well, I haven’t had a haircut since and I liked that idea so much I thought I’d do it again.

This time I’m raising money for clean water. We take it for granted, but it’s something 1 in 6 people in this world don’t even have. And it kills 42,000 people every week (90% of them children under 5).

Those numbers are hard to grasp. I didn’t get it myself until we went to Ethiopia this spring to bring home Milo. I watched people carry 5-gallon jerry cans and fill them in muddy rivers with tainted water. I got sick myself from that water and holed up in bed for two days. And when we came home Milo had a little stowaway called giardia, a water-borne parasite that causes all kinds of digestive trouble.

Water is truly life. And not having clean water can be a death sentence. The crazy part is that it only costs $20 to give one person clean water for 20 years.

So for my 30th birthday I’m asking you to celebrate with me by giving clean water to 30 people in 30 days. If we make the goal, I’ll shave my head. I’m calling it the Bald Birthday Benefit.

In the few days since I launched this effort on May 15, we’ve already raised more than half the $600 goal. I might need to up the goal! I’ll still shave my head for hitting $600 of course, but if we hit $300 in only three days, what could we do in 30 days? I haven’t officially set a new goal, but I’ve got my eye on the ridiculous goal of $5,000—what it would cost for a well in Ethiopia. How crazy would that be?

So I hope you’ll help me celebrate my 30th birthday this year. Please consider a donation of any amount. Then tell your friends: forward this e-mail, write a blog post, put it on Twitter, tell your Facebook friends—heck, talk to someone face to face if you have to. If I’m going to be bald for my birthday I need you to spread the word.

All the details, including how to donate online or offline and answers to common questions, can be found online:

http://www.kevindhendricks.com/bald/

Thanks for however you can help, whether it’s donating, spreading the word or both.

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Everybody jump in and help Kevin. Make a donation through PayPal, blog it, tweet it, or do all three.