"I fell in love with 'charity:water' through its photos," Eric Wong, organizer of a charity art exhibit and silent auction Nov. 14 - 16 that will help villages worldwide get clean water.

In 2007 Wong said he was looking for a new way to contribute to charity. A statistician, he wanted to make the most impact per dollar. He said he kept running into articles about the need for clean water in rural Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The articles brought up a chance meeting he had early this year with Scott Harrison, founder of charity:water, a non-profit organization that creates wells where there is no clean water.

"My enthusiasm grew because it had a simple mission and cost-effective solutions."

Two years later, he's putting on a "Facing Thirst" exhibit at Gallery House, 320 S. California Ave.

The benefit exhibit features local artists as well as photography by Harrison, who has documented the need for water around the globe and how charity:water has helped.

"We want it to be an experiential exhibit," JuHae Son, media director for the event, said.

"It sounds kind of cheesy, but we really do want to put the audience in the villages."

Large containers of water will be available for attendees to carry, illustrating the difficulty involved in transporting water. Guests will be provided with complimentary wine and glasses of brownish contaminated water -- don't drink the latter.

In addition to the photos, 26 artists will put their pieces up for silent auction, including pieces created for the exhibit.

California Avenue businesses such as Avalon Yoga and even the struggling Know Knew Books have donated to the auction as well. Wong said he hopes to have a majority of California Avenue businesses participating by the time the event opens Nov. 14.

Young and well-dressed, Wong stands out in casual Silicon Valley. He's a senior statistician at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and the water exhibit is an extracurricular activity for him. He and his team of six, mostly Stanford grads, have worked on the exhibit for months.

Wong said the people at charity:water are "amazing visual communicators," so an art show seemed to fit as a way to raise money and awareness. After stumbling into Gallery House, Wong said it all clicked for him. He talked to the artist co-op that runs the gallery and the owners liked the idea enough to donate pieces of their own to the event. "Everyone at the meeting was moved and wanted to help," Karen White, an artist and member of Gallery House, in addition to being an active neighborhood leader in Palo Alto, said.

White is creating a piece for the event, entitled "Oasis." The idea of painting an oasis sums up everything the event is trying to do, she said.

"We here in California suffer from an embarrassment of riches. If we look around at the world, we can see that there are big problems out there. This is a great way we can help out on a local level," White said.

Palo Alto digital artist Nancy Coleman also created a new piece. She superimposed a head of kale and water droplets "representing the agriculture in Africa and the need for water to sustain life," she said.

The idea that agriculture can sustain and change lives is central to charity:water's mission. The New York based non-profit organization partners with local governments, construction companies and villagers to create wells and water infrastructure in rural parts of developing nations. It sends photographers out to show how villagers are using the water and shares its photos on Google Earth: http://www.charitywater.org/projects/map.php.

"This single cause affects so many far-reaching areas," Wong said.

According to charitywater.org, 4,500 children die a day from water-born diseases and some trips to clean-water sources can take whole days.

The exhibit will be from Saturday, Nov.14, through Monday, Nov. 16. More information is at: mycharitywater.org/paloalto.