Help Send Luke to China!

Luke's sperm donor is half Chinese, and Luke has been aware of his multi-ethnic/multi-racial identity from the beginning of his life. In 2019, he has a chance to explore that part of his identity on a 10-day trip to China with his school. While his school generously provided a small scholarship that covers about 15% of the trip's cost, and Luke is contributing his allowance to the trip, we are reaching out for support from our friends and family to raise approximately half of the cost of the trip. While this is certainly a "first world" GoFundMe campaign request, we hope you will consider donating.

The opportunity to visit a country as unique as China, which is part of his origin story, would be a tremendous growth experience for him, not just educationally, culturally, and socially, but also personally in terms of his own identity formation, at a critical time in his development (he will be 13 at the time of the trip). Moreover, Jana and I firmly believe that getting our kids out of their comfort zone is one of the best ways to teach them many things—perspective, empathy, gratitude, cultural competence, critical thinking, and the like. Travel, particularly to a country as different from the United States as is China, is central to getting us out of our comfort zones so that we may grow in many, many ways. We strongly believe that this China trip will be a truly formative/transformative experience for Luke as he develops into a young adult of Chinese origin in an increasingly global world.

Finally, here is an excerpt of Luke's portion of the financial aid application that we filled out. These are his own words about the trip: "I would like to go to China for many reasons. I have never been to an Eastern country, which will be a lot different than the other countries I’ve visited. I am a quarter Chinese and I’ve never had a chance to explore that part of my identity. I think it would be interesting to see what the environment and culture is like and really cool to see the structures that have been built over thousands of years. . . . It would also make me more adventurous and curious to go to other countries and see other cultures. Then I can compare what they are like to what it's like in the United States. I also think it would make me more open-minded in general and help me be more understanding of people who may feel different."

Thank you for reading and for considering a donation.
p.s. The photo you see on the GoFundMe page is the donor on the left and Luke on the right.