Matt Damon
(1970-)

Actor, Screenwriter, Producer, Philanthropist
CoFounder, Water.org

birthdate: October 8
birthplace:
Cambridge, Massachusetts

QUOTES

We’re here for such a short time. When your great-great-grandkids study history, don’t you want them to be proud that you were part of the solution?

I can’t think of any more important value to instill in our children than the desire to help others. I feel strongly about setting an example for them. Real problems can be solved by the next generation if we instill in them the right values.

Please find out what you can do to make a difference. Take five minutes to educate yourself on an issue you didn’t know about before. Then tell somebody else.

It's just better to be yourself than to try to be some version of what you think the other person wants.

Every 15 seconds, a child dies because of a lack of clean water and sanitation. I should probably repeat that: Every 15 seconds, a child dies because of a lack of clean water and sanitation. A billion people on our planet will never have a clean drink of water. There are 2.5 billion people in the world without toilet facilities. That kind of deprivation isn’t even on our radar in the U.S., but in Africa it’s the central preoccupation of many people’s lives. And the most devastating thing about it is that it takes so little to change it. Just $25 will give someone clean water for life—yes, just $25 will change someone’s future forever.

Poverty feeds into the clean-water crisis, which contributes to hunger, and so on. There’s undeniable interconnectivity among these issues. Just one of these problems can be deadly on its own, but in the most disadvantaged areas there is a perfect storm of problems. And it takes its greatest toll on children.

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