New Goal

This is Sarah again. Riley is VERY close to meeting her goal of raising $2500 for a well. We are beyond excited and amazed. I honestly cannot believe that we started The Riley Project almost 3 months ago and we are already here. It feels like we just started. Riley is still so excited about raising money. All of this has got us thinking...

As most of you probably know, it actually costs $5000 to build a well. Blake and I said that we would donate $2500 if Riley raised $2500. We did this because we wanted to make Riley's goal attainable. Now I feel like we limited her and God. We underestimated people's generosity. In fact, I know of several people who still want to give to the well. I feel like there are probably several more people out there who are feeling the tug to give to the well. I don't want to keep people from giving.

Now, I know that this could look like Blake and I are trying to get out of giving our portion. I can say with a genuine heart that Blake and I would love to give $2500 to the well. We will always give money to help fund access to clean water until EVERYONE on the planet has clean water. Allowing Riley to continue raising money and continue doing service projects isn't about us. It's about not stopping something that seems to need to keep going. I'm honestly disappointed in myself for underestimating Riley and all of our friends.

So here is our new plan. We will absolutely celebrate when Riley meets her goal of raising $2500. We are so proud of her. Riley is the one who actually told us that she wanted to continue raising money for wells even after she met her goal. We are going to have Riley continue to do service projects and allow people to give if they want to. We also have a family who gave $500 to help with the $2500 that Blake and I were giving to the well. Therefore, we are close to $3000 already raised for the well. It would be amazing if we could reach $5000 through Riley's efforts.

Blake and I are going to donate $300 today to start the new goal. We may end up giving the $2000 needed to complete the well, but I strongly feel like there are people out there who still want to give. I would love for Riley to be able to say that she raised all of the money for the well through the openhandedness of her friends and not because her parents stepped in and completed it for her.

Thank you so much to everyone who has already given to the well. Hopefully, Riley will be able to post soon about reaching $2500!

The Riley Raindrop

Great news! Blessed Nest is extending their offer until the end of the year! See below for details...

Hi Friends! This is Sarah. I just wanted to share with everyone an awesome fundraiser that my friend, Donna, is doing for The Riley Project. Donna and Heather's company, Blessed Nest, offers eco-friendly nursing pillows. (I have one and absolutely love it!) For the month of August, they are offering the Riley Raindrop- an organic take-a-long pillow for $39 and $30 of that will go to The Riley Project! How sweet is that? So, if you want an amazing pillow AND want to give to the well, it's a win-win situation.

Click here to order a Riley Raindrop!

Thank you so much Donna and Heather!

My Birthday Party

For my birthday party I was Wonder Woman.


My friends Madeline, Sarah, Alexa, and Lauren came over. We decorated cupcakes and got really messy, messy, messy. We all dressed up as super heroes.We had to save Tyler (my little sister) from the Bad Boys.
My friends gave money to the well for my birthday. Kimi and Jason, Nana and Grandpa, my cousin Beth, Gigi and Pamp, and Aunt Julie also gave money to the well for my birthday. I raised $255 for my birthday! Thank you to everyone! I loved my birthday!

Progress Update

So far we have raised $1886! It's amazing that a bunch of people have helped me and we're almost there. Thank you to Daniel, Lindsay, Campbell, and Graham. They didn't eat out for a month and gave that money to the well. That's really cool, huh? Thank you to Mr. Share, Ms. Burick, Scottie and Bob, Mr. Philip, the Lackeys, the Purifoys, the O'Neills, and Jennifer. Jennifer went to the fair and won for the best jelly and gave the money to the well. She sold notebooks to her students for the well too.

I'm feeling super duper, duper, duper, duper, duper happy, but we still have some money to raise. I think that we can raise all of the money soon though and then we will have a well and lots of people will have clean water!

Lake Hills Church Rocks!

At the church we went to this summer they decided to raise money for the well. In August, I told all of the kids about my well project. Then the kids gave money to the well. One of my friends, Tara, went around her neighborhood and asked for donations. Other friends got donations to come and pick green beans with me. On Sunday, I went to big church and talked to the adults. The church raised $445! That's a lot of money. Thank you to everyone and especially to Ms. Debbie for all of her hard work.

Second Harvest Food Bank

On Friday, I went and picked green beans for Second Harvest Food Bank. They use the food to feed the hungry. I learned that it is very hard work to farm because it is very hot and there are prickers on the plants that hurt.


There was a group of people that came with me from my church. They helped pick the beans and some of them also raised money for the well. Thank you to everyone who helped!

Born in September

Please watch this video...



Guess what? My birthday is in September! For my birthday this year, I'm going to give up my presents. I'm going to ask my friends to give money to my well instead of bringing presents to my birthday party. The way that I'm feeling is that I really, really want presents, but now I've seen that people don't even have clean water. They may not even know when their birthday is and they don't get presents.