Donald Miller and the Ride:Well Team Bike America

Portland, Oregon (Sunday, May 4th)…The above picture is of myself and Jena Lee Nardella, the director for Blood:Water Mission. Bood:Water was actually started by some friends who make up the band Jars of Clay. I first met Jars years ago when they came through town and we were able to get some time between their sound-check and concert. We hit it off immediately while walking around Powell’s books. The guys are all very, very well read and it was funny meeting because all I wanted to talk about was music and all they wanted to talk about was books. From that meeting, the guys invited me to tour with them for a couple weeks and open their show with a book reading. After living on the bus with them for a couple weeks, we went from friends to brothers. They are some of the most quality guy’s I’ve ever known. It was about this time that they started Bood:Water.

After traveling in Africa, the guys decided to do something about some of the problems facing that continent, and realized building wells was one of the ways they could have the greatest impact. Once the organization was started, they hired Jena Lee Nardella, who has since become a friend as well. She’s an outstanding girl who runs a tight ship. The above picture was taken at their annual banquet that tookplace in Nashville. They’ve already built many, many wells in Africa but have an ambitious goal of drilling one-thousand in total. I’ve supported Blood:Water in a number of ways since the guys started the project, but the bike ride, along with people like you who are donating to the cause, will certainly do more for them then I could do alone. One of the greatest things about this ride, for me, is being able to introduce people to the organization itself and also to Jena and the guys in Jars. Blood:Water has grown into a three-million dollar per year organization and they are only getting stronger. Their impact has been astronomical, and I will be sharing more about that as this blog continues.