Water Rules at Saks Fifth Avenue

It's not just designer duds coming down the runway at Saks Fifth Avenue - it's clean water as well. The high-end department store hosted their Summer Gala - a fundraiser for charity: water - with 1,000 guests including celebrities Jennifer Connelly, Mischa Barton and Adrien Grenier.

According to their Web site, charity: water is a non profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Right now, 1.1 billion people on the planet don't have access to safe, clean drinking water - that's one out of six people. Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick. Those hours are crucial, preventing many from working or attending school. Additionally, collecting water puts them at greater risk of sexual harassment and assault. Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of unsafe water; of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% are children under 5 years old.

Just $20 can give a person in Africa clean, safe drinking water for 20 years, and the partnership of Saks Fifth Avenue and charity: water have raised more than $500,000, funding over 100 wells in developing nations in a two-month time period.