A party-goer attempts the charity:water catwalk. CGG

One night, one thousands guests. The goal: to raise $100,000 for charity: water, a not-for-profit which works to provide clean drinking water across the globe. Stars like Jennifer Connelly and Adrien Grenier are big supporters. Did they make their goal? Ahem….the summer gala, held at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York, on Tuesday raised $300,000 for charity: water!

More than 1.1. billion people, or one in six people, don’t have access to clean drinking water. And charity: water is working to fight that every day, through simple solutions like freshwater wells, rainwater catchments, and sand filters. It only takes $20 to give one person in Africa clean drinking water for a year ($5000 builds an entire well).

CGG was there in full force to witness the festivities. Our favorite part? The charity: water runway, allowing party goers to experience hauling heavy jugs of water. And for each person who walked the runway, corporate sponsors donated $40 to charity: water! We carried 80 pounds of water (granted we were in high heels) and can tell you first hand that we can not even begin to imagine carrying those jugs for five miles a day, the length that many mothers and children in Africa walk every day for water.