30th birthday gift matching

To celebrate my 30th birthday I planned to visit Italy for two weeks in September. On the actual day of my birthday, I had plans to see Harry Styles in concert in D.C with my cousin. COVID-19 shredded those plans, just as it has shredded the plans and destroyed the lives of millions of people. I’m not unique, but it still feels searing and disappointing. 

But, 30 years on Earth, 30 spins around the sun, 30 years of joy and pain and resiliency are still worthy of celebration. In that celebration, I’d like to water the seeds being planted to enrich others just as people have watered me over the years. For my birthday, in lieu (or in addition!) to gifts, I am asking my friends, family members, and community to donate to one (or more!) of the following organizations. I will match all donations made from June 19th-30th up to $300 in honor of my 30th birthday and perhaps, in the midst of COVID-19, racial injustice, war, and famine we can be reminded that we’re a global community of neighbors and we can help bend the arc towards justice now.

How it will work:

1. Read up on the charitable organizations linked below and choose one (or more) that you would like to support.

   1. Charitable organizations:

      1. Charity: water*

      2. Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore (A member of Feeding America*)

      3. The Okra Project

      4. Partnership with Native Americans*

      5. Save the Children | Yemen* (Read more on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen)

      6. The Loveland Foundation Therapy Fund

      *Each organization with an asterisk is an accredited charity on give.org, BBB’s wise giving alliance.

2. Choose an amount to donate (anything and everything counts!).

3. Send me a receipt of your donation via email or DM on Instagram.

4. I will match your donation and send you a receipt of the matched amount until we reach $300.

5. I will track the amount given and provide updates on my Instagram story titled ‘🎂🌎💵’ and I will come back and edit this post to update the amount on July 1st.

“But peace is not merely to absence of this tension, but the presence of justice. And even if we didn’t have this tension, we still wouldn’t have positive peace.” - "When Peace Becomes Obnoxious", Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The donation period for this gift matching will take place from today, June 19th, until June 30th. If we exceed the match pool of $300 before the 30th, please continue to donate if you’d like!

EDIT: We have raised a total of $1,150 among all six organizations! Thank you to everyone for their generosity!

in solidarity and joy,