We are so excited to have you with us to celebrate our wedding! We cannot wait for the big day!

Traditionally guests would bring gifts to the newly married couple on there wedding day.

We are just a bit untraditional so... while we appreciate the gesture we feel that the best gift we could possibly receive is the gift to help another person. We would like to ask our guests to please make a small donation to one of the two charities that we support rather than purchasing a wedding gift for us. : )

Below is some information on the two charities we've selected and why we've chosen to support these causes.

Action Against Hunger | ACF International, a global humanitarian organization committed to ending world hunger, works to save the lives of malnourished children while providing communities with access to safe water and sustainable solutions to hunger.

"Action Against Hunger is in war-torn countries that many fear to tread. They are technical people… that forgo the comforts of modern life to assist local populations and refugees at the most fundamental level in the most dangerous locales. They provide nutrition, healthcare, sanitation, and food sustainability. They train populations to be self-sufficient. Although these dedicated men and women want to eliminate the need for their services, humanity is not willing and forces them to witness the most heinous actions."

– President Nelson Mandela, Recipient, Action Against Hunger Humanitarian Prize 2004

Why We Support This Cause- We are both are so fortunate to have never lived a life of hunger. Our only experience of hunger is working an 8 hour shift with no meal, which was out of choice. But the hunger we felt from that long shift could easily be fixed by going through a drive through, or restaurant, stopping at a grocery store or even a gas station. We live in a world where water (CLEAN WATER) is readily available in any establishment, in our homes, in our schools, it is free and available with no effort at any public park. We live in a world that so many other people will never be able to experience, and we take it for granted every single day. There are over 17 million children that are afflicted with severe acute malnutrition (Hunger) in our world today. Action Against Hunger is a reputable charity organization that is truly making a difference in global hunger. It's a charity that you can feel good about supporting because 92% percent of all donations are spent on the cause. To find out more about what they are doing to end world hunger and provide clean water for all mankind visit their website.

http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/

EarthRights International (ERI) is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization that combines the power of law and the power of people in defense of human rights and the environment, which we define as "earth rights." We specialize in fact-finding, legal actions against perpetrators of earth rights abuses, training grassroots and community leaders, and advocacy campaigns. Through these strategies, EarthRights International seeks to end earth rights abuses, to provide real solutions for real people, and to promote and protect human rights and the environment in the communities where we work.

Why We Support This Cause- Earth Rights International is an organization that is not afraid to challenge the integrity of corporations outsourcing there products in all corners of the world. Earth Rights has a history of bringing justice to people who have been treated unjust/ inhumane by big corporations. We were moved by the story of the people in Burma who were forced to work on an oil reserve while their villages were burnt to the ground, women were raped and people were murdered. All to provide gasoline to Unocal gas stations in the US. We need to ask where are these products coming from, who made them, how was this person treated while making this product that I am purchasing. We need to be more aware to what's going on around us. We are so used to a convenient life style where we can get anything we want if we have the funds to purchase it. We are marketed products and we buy them based on what the advertising says, with no second of thought on where the product originated from. If you knew that the gas you received to fill your car came from a tropical village in Burma where the whole village was destroyed and the people were forced into slavery work to produce that gas for your vehicle to drive you from work to home everyday, would you still purchase gas from that company?

Earth Rights International is asking those questions, they are opening schools all over the world to help people fight for their rights. To prevent businesses from doing these acts. They are using Lawful tactics to protect human rights. For more information follow the link below.

http://www.earthrights.org/