Blood: Water Mission is privileged to be a part of two rescues. The first is the tangible rescue from disease and poverty that plagues so many communities in Africa. We do this by supporting Africans as they use their knowledge and wisdom of their people, geography and customs, to create sustainable ways to rise out of poverty. The other rescue is the one that happens in the West: we, the chronically wealthy, being rescued from our trivia. We are helping people become aware of their choices, and how they affect people across oceans.

It is an honor to win this award. The MySpace community is a fertile place to grow the seeds of justice, compassion, love and action. And to help people see that their story is ready for the chapter about how each one of us changes the world and allows health, love and hope to be new characters in the stories of those

For more about the contest and to see the runner-up organizations, visit: http://www.myspace.com/impactawards

About Blood:Water Mission:
When Dan Haseltine, Jars of Clay's lead singer, visited Africa in 2002, he had to struggle to accept what he saw. Poverty and physical and social suffering in Africa shook him, challenged him, and changed him.

Haseltine returned overwhelmed by despair, transformed by hope and called to action. He came back with a vision for clean blood and clean water in Africa -- blood free of the HIV virus and water free of parasites and bacteria that cause AIDS patients and others undue suffering. He and his band mates envisioned this orphaned continent to be transformed through the installation of Christ's sacrificial symbols of blood and water.

Jars of Clay's main audience are the church and young people across the nation. The band knows that both populations are uniquely equipped to respond to world suffering and injustice. The band members saw a shining opportunity for people to offer Gods hand of mercy in the broken places. They believed that through bringing the crisis to the minds and hearts of Americans and through presenting opportunities to make a positive tangible impact in Africa, lives would be transformed both here and there.

This, then, is the Blood:Water Mission, committed to clean blood and clean water to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic, to build clean wells in Africa, to support medical facilities caring for the sick, to make a lasting impact in the fight against poverty, injustice and oppression in Africa through the linking of needs, talents and continents, of people and resources.

We need you and they need you. Please join us on this journey of hope and care.