Lend me thine ears, oh yee friends and philanthropists!

The problem with exercises in largesse today, as we see it, is the total lack of any risk to life and limb. No longer satisfied with checkbook activism, R. Montague Whiting III, J. Peter Gabriel, and Ms. Michelle Medina are setting out to dominate the Rickshaw Run, charity's answer to how we can make a truly grand, pointless gesture on behalf of the less fortunate. Three feckless wanderers tearing across the Sub-Continent in September 2011, with naught but their moxie and seven horsepower's worth of India's finest in transportation luxury. From Shillong to Jaisalmer, we'll be racing against some 90 other teams, the inevitable breakdown of our autorickshaw, and our own seemingly preternatural ability to get into trouble. All for the benefit of FRANK Water Projects, the only decent piece of this entire equation.

FRANK Water funds sustainable clean water projects in developing countries around the world. The organization was founded by Katie Alcott in 2005, after she visited India and contracted dysentery. Coming back to the UK she realised that by selling ethical bottled water she could use the profits to fund new clean water facilities for villages in need. Today, FRANK Water funds projects throughout India and the world, and is helping to bring clean drinking water to the people who need it most every day.

You can visit their website here:  www.frankwater.com

We're asking for help to reach our charitable goal - 1,000 British pounds, which translates to roughly $3.6 Billion in U.S. currency. All donations will go directly to FRANK water. Look, we'd be going on the trip anyways. Someone, anyone, anywhere should benefit from this completely reckless endeavor. In a world where 4,000 children die every day from not having adequate water, the solution seems obvious. We're risking our lives for the children.

To donate, please click the donations bar on the left side of this page.

So please, visit our donation page and help us in our quest to risk death and dismemberment for something other than our own sense of adventure. Think of all that delicious tap water you enjoy every day. Think of all the people who don't have that same, simple resource. Think of three idiots on three wheels, trying like hell to do something about it. Think of the tax deduction. Think of the children.

The Late Edition: On Our Late Additions

As is wont to happen, our team has experienced a little funny math. Subtractions and additions, as it were. No longer will J. Peter Gabriel be along for the ride - a dropout as tragic as it is disappointing.

But an 11th-hour substitution has been found! One that we may be thanking our lucky stars for, should we decide to contract some obscure malady from the far reaches of the Deccan Plateau or the gutters of Mumbai. Please welcome....

Our new Co-Pilot and Chief Officer of Sugary Mischief, Ms. K. L. Hetherington. 

Would you rather date someone you met off the internet,  or pilot a three-wheeled death trap across India with them? We'll take the latter option, please. So will she, apparently. A dark horse in the truest sense of the word, Ms. Hetherington brings a wealth of international experience to our little endeavor. Scandinavian university? Check. Southeast Asian adventures? Check. Consulting for the UN? Check. 

A U.S. native with some extremely itchy travel feet, Kristina Louise has taken this comedy of errors from Two Men and a Lady to Three's Company in one fell swoop. She promises to be an absolutely perfect piece of the puzzle.

Really, the only concern here is her overwhelming competence. We certainly didn't sign up for this with comfort in mind. Fortuately, I have been assured that  should I manage to pilot our tuk tuk into a snake pit, she will provide me only with sarcastic remarks about objects in the mirror being closer than they appear. How accommodating.