Getting Married - Announcement

As most of you probably know, Luke and Emily are finally getting married this summer after being together over 7 years. The Mexico trip was a "pre-honeymoon", pretty nice deal! We will have a private ceremony sometime this summer in Alaska and will have a reception the weekend of September 8 in Fairbanks. All friends and family are invited to the reception, which will be a potluck-style party at the Dog Musher's Hall. I am sure we will be serving Copper River salmon if all goes well dip-netting at Chitina this year, but would like everyone to bring a dish, desert, or beverage. We are not sending out invitations, this is the "announcement", but all friends and family members are invited for the potluck. If you would like to come up to Alaska that weekend and have questions about getting up here, or you want more details just send us an email or give us a call. We'll post more specific details about the September 8 party later in the summer, so check back again.

Also, since we own a very small house and already have everything we need to live comfortably, please do not send any gifts. Instead, we would love it if you would donate to one of the following charitable organizations:

http://www.christianchildrensfund.org/giftcatalog/giftCatalog.aspx or 1-800-776-6767. While traveling we see people in desperate poverty. Please help them with useful gifts or sponsor a child through Christian Children's Fund, which helps all poor people (not only Christians). Examples below, pick anything on the website that you feel is important, or sponsor a child:
-One Pig, Supplies, and Training for a family in Uganda
-Micro Irrigation for a family in Honduras
-One Chimney for a family in Honduras
-Mosquito nets protect young children from malaria in Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, and India
-Library Materials for a school in Bolivia
-Fruit Orchard for a family in Brazil

http://www.nature.org/rainforests/ Nature Conservancy Rainforest Fund (800) 628-6860. While traveling through the rainforest jungles of Chiapas, Guatemala, and Yucatan, we noticed deforestation and were greatly concerned about the birds, jaguars, and Luke was especially worried about the monkeys. Please donate to save the rainforest ecosystems (and try to eat more locally grown food). The Nature Conservancy has launched its Rainforests Fund to protect these vital forests and all the plants, animals and people that depend on them. The Rainforests Fund ensures: Plant and animal diversity assessments of the coastal Amazon rainforest; Training for national park guards in Bolivia; Support for implementing rainforest protection projects in the Asia Pacific region; Sustainable income-generating projects in Chile; Effective park management in Panama and Costa Rica; Scientific analysis of new protected areas within temperate rainforests in Canada.

http://www.casacomunidad.org/ U.S. 303.250.4319, Mexico 322.138.5064. Molly Fisher’s organization in Punta de Mita, near where Emily’s parents live. We volunteered for Molly’s animal spay and neuter program. The Casa offers English classes to Mexicans, a women's co-operative, and a much needed after-school program for kids.

http://www.savedarfur.org/ (800) 917-2034. The emergency in Sudan’s western region of Darfur presents the starkest challenge to the world since the Rwanda genocide in 1994. A government-backed Arab militia known as Janjaweed has been engaging in campaigns to displace and wipe out communities of African tribal farmers. Villages have been razed, women and girls are systematically raped and branded, men and boys murdered, and food and water supplies targeted and destroyed. Government aerial bombardments support the Janjaweed by hurling explosives as well as barrels of nails, car chassis and old appliances from planes to crush people and property. Tens of thousands have died. Well over a million people have been driven from their homes, and only in the past few weeks have humanitarian agencies gained limited access to some of the affected region. Mukesh Kapila, the former United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, said on March 19, 2004 that the violence in Darfur is “more than a conflict, it's an organized attempt to do away with one set of people.” The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has issued its first ever genocide emergency. John Prendergast of International Crisis Group warns, “We have not yet hit the apex of the crisis.” The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) estimates that 350,000 people or more could die in the coming months. Ongoing assessments by independent organizations such as Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) suggest that USAID’s estimate may be conservative. If aid is denied or unavailable, as many as a million people could perish. Lives are hanging in the balance on a massive scale.