Update on Cupcake Project 4.0 - We're Off to a Great Start!

Lisa Ballantine, the Executive Director of FilterPure, shaved her head to show
that the $30 she spends on a haircut (many of us pay even more than that)
could buy a family a water filter that would last 5 years.

For those visiting Cupcake Project for the first time, here's the "filtered" down version of Cupcake Project 4.0:  We are in the process of raising $4000 for FilterPure, a non-profit providing water filters to Haitians who are desperately in need of potable water.  Our $4000 will provide 133 families with fresh water for five years!  When you donate $1 or more, you get my recipe for the ultimate chocolate peanut butter cupcakes and are entered for a chance to win a Cupcake Tower. The first 50 people to donate $50 or more get a free cupcake corer. Anyone donating over $200 gets a custom cupcake recipe created by me.  See my original post to get more information and make a donation (you can also donate from the ChipIn box in this post or on the right side of the blog).

Look how far we've already come: 

Thanks so much to everyone who has donated!  Be sure to tell your family and friends!  If you make a donation and don't hear back from me with the recipe within a week, please check your spam folder.  If it's not there, please email me so that I can be sure that you get it.    

I want to share this email that I received from Lisa Ballantine, the Executive Director of FilterPure, so that you can see how much our donations mean to the organization.

Stefani,

It is crazy how many [donations] are coming in.  Thank you so much for your help.  I am here in the DR [Dominican Republic] and we are needing to distribute filters into Haiti to respond not only to the Cholera outbreak, but now the hurricane.  What is happening in Haiti has been a horrific situation that seems to just continue on without a break.  This money will enable us to get the filters out immediately.  We are sending a container in from the Dominican Republic with the filters donated to help meet the need of the Haiti factory.  I am truly amazed at the support that you have raised.  I have enclosed some photos of the factory and from our Haiti project, and a drawing of the filter for those supporters who do not know what it looks like.  Oh, and the photo of me bald is when I shaved my head to raise awareness for water in Haiti.  Right after the earthquake I shaved my head.  A hair cut in the US costs about $30 and I was making a statement that if I would get no haircuts, I could give water to a family for 5 years, thus helping them through the toughest time in their lives.  The water issues are proving to be the most deadly in the situation in Haiti now.  This is something that we can solve with a $30 filter. 

Thank you again, and I will post the photos once we distribute the filters,

Lisa

Special Thanks

Thanks to George Mahe of St. Louis Magazine for his wonderful write-up of this project!