Instead of spoiling us, we encourage you to consider donating to two causes that we hold dear. If you give to this fund, the total amount will be split between the following two charitable causes:1) Women & girls' education fund: Our family currently directly contributes to sustaining the ongoing education of several girls in under-served communities worldwide. This is a cause that means a great deal to us and your contributions will help see these girls through graduation in the coming years.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2) Immigrant Family Services in Baltimore: Casa de Maryland is a group of passionate, community-conscious people working to organize, advocate for, and expand opportunities for Latinx and immigrant people in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. They work to provide employment placement; workforce development and training; health education; citizenship and legal services; and financial, language, and literacy training. (more at https://wearecasa.org/)

Since our plans to travel around Iran had to be put on hold for now, we figured we'd settle for exploring some territories of the Persian Empire instead! If all goes as planned we will be; investigating Istanbul, basking on beaches near Bodrum, trekking along Turkey's Turquoise coast, climbing in Cappadocia, Conquering the Kackar Mountains, and traversing tea fields along the Black Sea coast. From there we will spend some time in the Republic of Georgia, where Will used to live in the mountains with a host family. There we'll wine and dine our way across the Caucuses before heading back to reality! In order to pull this magical trip off, we could use some help paying for airfare, accommodation, backpacking gear and, of course, gifts to bring back to you lovely people! Your generosity is greatly appreciated!

We've recently bought a beautiful old row home in Baltimore, and this fund goes to furnishing the space and renovating our backyard in the spring. The sooner we can furnish the guest room, the sooner you get to come visit!