Maji

Three Years Later...

2009-08-21T11:54:00.001-07:00

The New Maji

2009-05-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

Maji is going through a few minor changes. We will no longer be able to sell t-shirts. As the three of us move to three different parts of the world, we will not be able to continue selling shirts. Please know the Maji is the same company. Instead of selling a product to raise funds for charity:water, we simply ask people to donate to the cause. We will continue to raise awareness of this crisis. So please, continue wearing your shirts. Tell people what they are for. If you don't have one, you can still tell people about the situation and bring them to our website which will tell them how they can help! Thank you all so much for your support! We hope that together, we can continue to provide water to those without it.

I Am Second

2009-05-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

If you haven't already heard of I Am Second, then go to their website and check it out. They post many videos about people's testimonies and struggles. It is a pretty cool deal. This video is Blake Mankin's story of why he started an organization to provide water to people who do not have any. Check it out!
Blake Mankin's Story

Also, big changes for Maji soon. Keep posted for an update.

Wells in Ethiopia

2009-04-11T14:39:00.001-07:00

A couple months ago, users of Twitter put on an event to raise funds and awareness for Charity:water. This event was called Twestival. One quarter million dollars was raised to build water wells in Ethiopia.
This past weekend, Charity:water put their money to action to build wells. Over the four days they spent there, they posted one video per day. You can view those videos below. To find out more about the event and the drilling, click here.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

New Site Layout

2009-04-08T20:25:00.000-07:00

Check out givemaji.com. We recently updated the layout of our site and it went live today! It's all the same stuff with a little extra! You can vote your opinion in the poll to the right or leave a comment.

Trip to Rwanda

2009-04-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

I recently had a great opportunity to travel to Kigali, Rwanda with a group called Kanakuk. I got to witness the global water problem in real life. In America, we simply see pictures of people drinking dirty water, or carrying yellow jerry cans 6 miles to a pond with dirty water or well if they are lucky. On this trip, this global problem came to life. The very first time we drove somewhere with our big buses that had "We are American" written all over it, we were amazed with the amount of people walking with their jerry cans in search for water. We saw people filling their jugs up from very dirty ponds right beside the rode. We also saw people filling their jugs up from a well in their community. It was a very eye-opening experience. Here are a few shots I took from the trip.

Here is a video I made to summarize the whole trip to Rwanda.

Today Is World Water Day

2009-03-28T18:27:00.001-07:00

Check this out!

Maji's Charity:water Page

2009-03-07T16:05:00.001-08:00

The page is up! Here you can donate straight to Charity:water through Maji. You will soon be able to track how much Maji has raised for Charity:water as well.
Click here for the link.

Special Thanks...

2009-03-01T21:00:00.000-08:00

Special thanks to Justin Wilson! He helped us set up an event at his youth group tonight where we sold lots of shirts. Justin set up the whole thing by himself and got others excited about Maji. He did a great job. Thanks man! You're making a difference!

Help Maji come to your youth group or event, shoot us an email! info@givemaji.com

Saks Fifth Avenue

2009-02-26T15:09:00.000-08:00

Saks Fifth Avenue has teamed up with Charity:water in New York, NY. They raised more than $140,000 and built wells across Honduras. Check out this video that Charity:Water made to show the results...

Saks Fifth Avenue / Honduras from charity: water on Vimeo.

Click here to view more photos and read the story about the wells in Honduras.
Click here to view more information about Charity:water and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Twestival Results

2009-02-12T20:52:00.000-08:00

Tonight, 185+ cities took part of a huge event: Twestival. The original goal for this global event was to raise one million dollars for Charity:water. This event made a huge difference in so many lives!
The Denver Twestival had a great turn out! With over 200 people who showed up, about $10,000 was raised for Charity:water. The original goal for the Denver event was to raise $4,000. This event was very succesfull- and it's all thanks to Twitter. Twitter is an online networking website. It's like Facebook status on steroids. Three weeks ago, people on Twitter wanted to put together a socializing event to raise money for Charity:water. Three weeks later, over 185 cities responded with twitterers all over attending the event in their cities.
In April, Charity:water is going to build water wells all across Ethiopia with the money raised from tonights global events. They are even going to show one of the wells being drilled on a live broadcast on their website.
All of this from Twitter! And guess what! You can now follow Maji on Twitter! Here, Austin will keep you updated with Maji. Click here and follow us and tell your fellow twitterers to follow us...

Unlock Clean Drinking Water... Buy Maji's new shirt!

2009-02-01T15:13:00.000-08:00

Maji's shirt is now available! You can purchase your shirt at givemaji.com. Remember, 100% of the money from these shirts go straight to Charity:water.

Twestival

2009-01-25T12:53:00.000-08:00

Maji has a unique opportunity to be a part of something big! On February 12th, over 100 cities will host an event organized by people on Twitter. The purpose of this global event is to raise awareness and funds for Charity:water. Some cities will make this event huge and will set a fundraising goal of $12,000 while other cities will simply host a samll gathering and awareness night and set a fundraising goal at about $500.
Denver's Twestival will be in the middle with a fundraising goal of about $4000 (enough to fund one well in Ethiopia through Charity:water). The Denver Twestival event will take place on February 12th from 6-9 pm. It will be at the Fox & Hound restaurant in the Denver Tech Center. This event in Denver will be primarily to raise awareness of the water crisis and about what Charity:water does. There will also be a silent auction to raise more funds. The ticket price is $10 and you can register here. Maji will be there selling shirts to raise funds for Charity:Water in a different way. This is a great way to get the word out about Maji. To find out more about Twestival in general, click here.

A Giving January

2009-01-19T18:59:00.001-08:00

Two major events happened in January that will have a huge impact on Maji.

The first, is our new design (pictured below). A designer from Orlando, Florida heard about Maji and wanted to help us out! He had a design (with water elements) that was for a band. The band ended up not using it, so the designer changed a few things and sent it our way (at no cost). People are already really excited about this new design. We are very thankful for his eagerness to help out. These shirts will be printed by the end of January.

The second major event, mentioned in the previous post, is that we will have our shirts bought and printed for us at no cost. This is a huge deal for us, now Maji can give all $15 from every shirt straight to Charity:water. We no longer have to worry about the costs of printing shirts. A local screen-printing company, Images-Everything, came up to our booth and offered us to make our shirts for free. After meeting with them a few times, our first batch of shirts from Images-Everything is on the way.

A Maji Timeline

2009-01-19T18:24:00.000-08:00

Because Maji was stared long before this blog was, here are some of the major events that happened that made Maji the way it is today:

August, 2008- Austin, Cole, and Joe talk about starting a company that sells shirts to raise money to build water wells in places that need them the most.

September through November, 2008- Lots of meetings between the three of us to get this project started. During this time we made some pretty important decisions for Maji: Choosing who to raise the money for Charity:water, establishing a mission and vision statement, creating a website, financial stuff, shirt designs, the Maji logo, finding a screen-printer for our shirts, and a lot more. We spent countless of hours trying to get this all together. One huge part of who we are is our logo (shown below). An artist wanted to help us out with this. We spent some time discussiing what we were looking for, and a few weeks later, he showed us this design. We felt like it was perfect. It is a pump well (similar to ones that Charity:water builds). So we added the word "Maji" and at last we were ready to order the shirts.

November 12, 2008- 200 shirts were ordered. 100 shirts with the Maji logo and 100 shirts with the text "water not waste." (Meaning we want to give water and take away the waste that people are drinking).

November 24, 2008- 200 shirts were received. We then rolled all of the shirts in a hemp ribbon and attached a tag that said "Together, we can bring clean, safe drinking water to all. Thank you for contributing to this vision. givemaji.com"

December 1, 2008- Maji is launched! On that day, Maji was posted on andybraner.com, and over 100 people joined our Facebook page.

December 5, 2008- Maji's first big event! We set up a booth at a charity concert and raised awareness. See results from the concert here.

December 7, 2008- A Maji introduction at the Senior High youth group at Cherry Hills Community Church. (continues on Dec. 14th)

December 8, 2008- A Maji introduction at Denver K-Life.

December 14, 2008- A Maji introduction at the Jounior High youth group at CHCC. Over 25 shirts were sold and over $300 donated to Maji from the offering from Jr. High and Sr. High on the 7th and 14th of December. Maji also receives an offer to have their shirts made for free (see following post)

Intro.

2009-01-19T18:04:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone! This blog is a spot where Maji will share updates about anything new, upcoming events, special opportunities, or just simple thoughts about our project.

As you know, we sell t-shirts and we give 100% of the proceeds to Charity:water. Charity:water builds water wells in developing countries in places that need it the most.

Why water? Right now 1.1 billion people on the planet don't have access to safe, clean drinking water. That's one in six of us. Unsafe water and the lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Many communities in developing nations often have a plentiful supply of clean drinking water just below the ground, but no way to get to it. Over 4,500 children die each day due to the lack of safe drinking water. That's why.

Please visit our website givemaji.com to find out more about us or visit charitywater.org to find out more about Charity:water. On these two sites, you will find plenty of information on this water crisis and you will find out how you can help. To buy a shirt from us, please click here.

Thank you so much for your interest and support in this project. Together, we can provide clean, safe drinking water to all.