Water under the Burrows Bonus: Pay It Forwards

Water is the foundation of our society, and of every society.

About a year ago we started working on the script of Water under the Burrows. Soon it appeared that the project was rather more expansive than Judy is Dead had been, and the topic of opening a Patreon came up. We decided against it, as I didn’t want to feel that in some sense I was selling a product, and I certainly didn’t want to make some underhanded incentive to donate like putting material behind a paywall. And besides, we didn’t really need the money. A simpler (but probably less lucrative option) was to just make a tip jar of some sort, so I just opened a Ko-fi account and let people chip in if they felt like it.



From early on we decided to donate any raised funds to some suitable cause, and I decided that a charity working to expand access to drinking water in arid areas would be fitting, considering the narrative framing around “water”. However, with the unfolding disaster in the Caribbean it seems more auspicious to pick a charity active in that area.

Hurricane Maria was the second category 5 storm of the pacific hurricane season this year, making landfall on sept. 18th and carving a swathe of devastation across the Caribbean islands, many of which were still reeling after damage from hurricane Irma just weeks prior. Infrastructure in many of these regions was already is disrepair before the hurricanes hit, compounding an unfolding humanitarian crisis. Millions of people are now without power, shelter and vitally, clean water.

Waves for Water is an nonprofit that, in their words, works “to provide access to clean water through the distribution of portable water filters, the digging and renovating of wells, and the construction of rainwater harvesting and storing systems in places where groundwater is not accessible.” The first phase of their emergency response to Irma and Maria involves distributing water filtration systems that each can filter up to 1 million gallons of water. Bottled water serves an immediate and necessary need, but as the old adage goes, “give a man a bottle of water and he drinks for a day, give him a water filtration device and he drinks for 5 years.”

Being a minor group, W4W hasn’t been rated by most big charity watchdogs like CharityWatch or BBB Wise Giving Alliance. For this reason I was skeptical to pick them as the recipient of the money, but they do enjoy a “gold” rating with GuideStar(which to be fair, isn’t a watchdog per se) for their commitment to transparency, and in the end their design philosophy of focusing on low-tech but sustainable and long-term solutions was what won me over.

Do you agree? Or would you have chosen differently? Please let me know your thoughts on the matter. It’s funny how an animated movie about talking animals made this possible. Did any of you find inspiration in Nick and Judy’s example and worked to better yourself and your society? Please reblog with your stories, I’d love to read them.

I for one can’t express my gratitude enough to everyone that helped us raise almost a thousand dollars… but I can sure try! Therefore, I extend a big thank you to each and every one of those that donated - literally - under the cut:



Anonymous - my very first donation was from anon, thank you so much!

Mustang - Thank you so much for your generous donation!

TaMarmot - Thank you so much, it’s very appreciated!

huebris - I have a lot to say but the abridged version is - Thanks!

Shak - Thank you for each of the donations!

Quilly - Thank you!

Red Velvet Panda - Thanks, Panda!

Bimpy the Wimpy Shrimpy - Thanks, Bimpy! How anybody can get any sleep nowadays is beyond me!

Claudia - Thanks for the coffee!

Karteufel - Thanks for the coffees! I appreciate it every time!

Dogsport - Much appreciated!

Alexandre Landsec - Thank you for all that you do!

Jihwan Lee - Thanks muchly! Keep making that good music!

pyrophoricitee - iyts a cip n ko-fi

Nathan P - No, YOU rock!

stevegallacci - a big thank you! And yes I have seen your work, keep it up!

Kazookie - Thanks, Kaz! And I appreciate YOU! Every time you did your part to keep me up in the wee hours of the night.

Funzinnu - Thank you for your many donations, I hope you liked the story!

Jan - Your kind words are more than enough for me Jan, thank you!

Rene - 2! Thanks Rene!

Mojo - Thanks mojo, I got the Touch!

Okie - Thanks a lot!

Zanrok - Thanks so much!

Cary Reese - Thank you!

Enny - Thanks for your donation!

Karazu - Thanks for your support!

Wessa140 - Thank you! I will!

Stubat - Thank you! Sorry there weren’t many ‘yeens, hope you still liked it though!

A bobcat - I LOVE donuts, how did you know?

Mayu Zane - Thank you!

Kazookieslama - Thanks again Kaz!

kei - Bravo to you kei!

TargaryenTurtle - You and me both buddy!

Nathan - Thank you, just watch this space!

Ozy Lellowen - And I appreciate your donation Ozy!

Harry Lime - HARRY YOU MADMAN, most of the good karma in this post is thanks to you!

Kamiten - I’m keeping, I’m keeping!

Funzinnu - Thanks again and again Funz! Always appreciate your words of support!

Ztpia -

Stubat - Oh I’m sure the damage isn’t THAT bad! You got the whole paypal donation thing down at least, which I love you for!

IronicSnap - The kudos is all thanks to you Ironic!

PocketPaws - and I truly love your words <3

CombatEngineer - YOU are amazing!

Yoshimon - So glad you liked it, I hope whatever comes next will be good as well!

InTheLionsDenOnDA - Thank you for your kind words! I don’t know when but there’s definitely going to be another project coming up!

JAK072 - I’m so happy!

doubleSidedTape - Tomato!

FrigidGlacier - 100 proof babay!

Master-Lux - And a big thanks to YOU for donating, Lux!

Daniel Côté - merci beaucoup!

Robin -Two thank you’s for a great reader! Thank you and thank you!

Eh - And all the best to you too!

Nukukun - Thank you so much!

Johnsoneer - That’s high praise! Thank you!

Axel Ember - You touch me with your kind words, thank you so much!

Silver26 - Thank yoooou!

Joel - Thank you!

Lapine - Thank YOU!

Apetzu - YOU are awesome!

rva98014 - Thanks! You know, I almost called pop-pop “Thomas” in the epilogue, no idea where I got that notion from!



And for all the other anonymous donors, a big thank you to each and every one of you as well! I hope I didn’t miss anyone.