Seriously, no gifts.
This is not a test. The greatest gift you can give us is your time and presence at our wedding. We love slowly discovering and curating objects for our home ourselves, and we would feel very guilty spending other people’s money on our own fun.
In lieu of gifts, we ask that you donate to any of the charities featured below, which we’ve selected for the power of their direct impact on people and communities. We believe very strongly in doing what we can—however little—to make the world a better place. The best way to honor us would be to support a good cause, and we’re tickled by the idea of our love creating tangible good.
We do not have any “requirements” for donations; please only donate what you are comfortable giving. (P.S. Every nonprofit on here that has been rated by Charity Navigator has a 100/100 rating. We’re overachievers like that.)
If it is important to you that we know what you donated, and/or you would like a handwritten thank-you card, send Renee an email detailing which nonprofit(s) you donated to, and in what amount(s).
The concept behind RIP Medical Debt is radically simple: money donated is used to buy medical debt for pennies on the dollar, and then forgiven with no strings attached. RIP Medical Debt focuses on abolishing debt for low-income families and people whose debt is disproportional to their annual income.
We make it a point to donate to the Westside Food Bank every year; we don’t think anyone should go hungry, and enabling WSFB to provide meals and groceries to people in need is one small way we can help out our own neighborhood.
If you’ve talked to us at all after April 2020, you’ll know that our lives were changed for the better when Cleo joined our family. We now have a soft spot for cats everywhere, and wish every cat could have a loving home. (Psst, you should totally consider adopting one of their available cats.)
A shocking number of kids in American schools are saddled with debt for school-provided meals they can’t afford (and often punished as a result); this efficiently run fund pays off lunch debt at schools around the country.
We’ve donated to the Equal Justice Initiative in the past; Sharon learned about EJI when she read Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (highly recommended, by the way) and, well, if there’s anyone really toiling to make the world a little less terrible, it’s these folks. They’re tackling issues of mass incarceration and racial and economic injustice and work directly with the vulnerable people who are so often overlooked by society.
There’s one commonality in all crises: people need to eat to survive. WCK, founded by José Andrés, hits the ground running whenever there’s a disaster or humanitarian crisis to feed people (and makes it a point to hire locally and provide hot, culturally familiar meals).
For stubborn loved ones only
We understand that it is very important to some of the people in our lives to give tangible gifts for our home. We have a very tiny micro-registry for that purpose.
Please note that we are ruthless curators of the objects in our lives and prefer not to hold on to items that don’t serve our needs; if you gift us anything not on our registry, please do not be surprised if we thoughtfully regift your present to members of our community who would appreciate and use your gift.
To purchase us a gift on our registry, please contact Renee to notify her, confirm quantities, and to receive a mailing address for shipping.
