Dedicating December to Supporting Charity: Water

(*Update 12/05/11: Special thanks to Rafal Tomal (designer of this site) for donating time out of his busy schedule to make the awesome graphic you now see on the right sidebar. Thanks for the support!)

December is one of my favorite times of year. The first snow falls (for us to the North), a lot of time is spent with family and friends, and work is put on hold in favor of delicious food and relaxation. Also, I have the opportunity to reflect back on the year with my wife and write down our next list of New Year Goals. I love setting goals .

Even with the excitement of December looming however, I spent the last few months feeling like I needed to do something more. In my heart I wanted to make some sort of difference, no matter how small, to wrap up the year. As destiny would have it I ended up stumbling across "Start Something That Matters" by Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS shoes. It didn't take long for the ideas to start pooring in.

After thinking it through I had my idea.

Throughout the month of December I will donate $1 to Charity: Water for every comment, tweet, Facebook like, or Google+ made on the site. I will also donate $1 for every new fan added to the StockTradingToGo fan page.

Charity: Water is a non profit who's mission is to provide clean water to people all over the world. To date they've completed over 4,000 projects serving over two million people in 25 different countries. Charity Navigator rates them a perfect 4 stars for use of funds and credibility.

My goal is to donate $500 at the end of the month. To do that though I will need your help because that is a lot of comments, tweets, likes, etc. which I cannot do on my own!

1. $1 for every comment in December - Say hi, start a discussion, ask a question, or simply share your views on the market. Every comment you leave is $1 more going towards the cause. This is a great opportunity for those of you have not yet commented before to start.
2. $1 for every StockTradingToGo Facebook fan page "like" - We have 113 fans, but with over 18,000 RSS Subscribers, I know there are more of you out there! Like STTG on Facebook and I will donate $1 in your honor.
3. $1 for every Tweet, Facebook Like, and Google+ on posts in December - Think of it as social sharing for charity. Every time you enjoy a post here on StockTradingToGo in December, share it and I will donate another $1 towards the cause.

I know that we as a community here at StockTradingToGo can make a difference this month. Charity: Water estimates that almost 1 billion people across the planet do not have access to clean drinking water. Even if we can lower that number by a few we will have made a difference.

If you have any questions or words of encouragement please feel free to leave a comment below and get this movement kick started in the right direction . Thank you in advance for your support.