I consider myself incredibly fortunate.
I have the ability to travel, chase adventures, see new places, and document pieces of life through my cameras. I have a career that has provided me with stability and opportunities I never really imagined having. By most measures, life has been good to me.
But I’ve also reached a point where simply being fortunate doesn’t feel like enough.
I work hard at my day job. Like a lot of people in the corporate world, I spend my days navigating budgets, profitability, politics, personalities, competing priorities, and the occasional ego. There can certainly be satisfaction in solving problems and doing a job well, but after a day, a week, a month, or a year of it, I sometimes find myself wondering what I actually accomplished on a more personal level.
A few years ago, my career changed very quickly. Over roughly eight months, I went through a rapid series of promotions that took me from living a fairly humble life and waiting for that paycheck every two weeks to earning an amount that, deep down, I sometimes feel guilty accepting.
It’s a strange thing to admit.
I worked for it. I earned the opportunities that were given to me. I accepted the additional responsibilities that came with them. Still, that doesn’t completely eliminate the uncomfortable feeling of knowing how fortunate I am while so many other people are simply trying to make it through the month.
At some point, I also made peace with the idea that I don’t need to keep climbing the corporate ladder simply because another rung exists.
Part of that is because more money wouldn’t necessarily make my life more meaningful. But there’s another part I’ve thought about quite a bit: What kind of man would I need to become to succeed at those next levels, and is that actually the man I want to be?
For me, the answer has increasingly been that I have enough.
Maybe not enough to buy an island or permanently disappear onto a cruise ship—which remains unfortunate—but enough to live, travel, take photographs, have adventures, and enjoy this strange little journey through life.
And if I have enough, then I can give some of it back.
Doing a Little More Good
Over the past few years, I’ve increasingly felt that I need to do more good in this world than simply survive it.
I’m not trying to save the world. I’m certainly not qualified for that job.
I just want to leave my little corner of it slightly better than I found it.
Sometimes that means donating money. Sometimes it means giving time. Sometimes it’s helping someone without announcing it. Sometimes it’s supporting an organization doing work that I believe matters.
I don’t particularly want recognition for any of it. I don’t need my name on a wall, a social media shoutout, another tote bag, or—please, for the love of everything—another mailing list.
I just want to give.
This page isn’t meant to be a scoreboard of donations or a way to demonstrate what a wonderful person I am. I’m still very much a work in progress.
Instead, it’s simply a place to highlight some of the organizations and causes I’ve chosen to support.
If one of them means something to you too, consider supporting them.
If you look at my choices and think, Yeah, absolutely not, that’s okay too.
Find something you believe in.
Help animals. Support veterans. Feed people. Protect the environment. Help kids. Support medical research. Give to your local food bank. Help someone get an education. Support the arts. Clean up a river. Donate to a cause halfway around the world or help the person struggling a few houses down.
The specific cause matters less to me than the decision to care about something beyond ourselves.
The Legacy I Want to Leave
Recently, a coworker of mine passed away.
When I attended his Celebration of Life, I learned something about him that has stuck with me.
I knew he was charitable. He would occasionally mention something he had supported or something he had done to help others, but he was always fairly humble about it.
What I didn’t know was the extent of it.
Listening to the stories people shared, I realized his actions behind the scenes greatly exceeded anything he ever said about himself. There was this entire body of kindness quietly happening in the background without a press release, without recognition, and without him needing everyone to know about it.
That affected me.
Because when everything is eventually stripped away—the job title, salary, promotions, possessions, photographs, passport stamps, and all the other things we collect while we’re here—what remains is how we affected other people.
That’s the kind of legacy I would like to leave.
Not necessarily someone remembered for what he had, what position he held, how many countries he visited, or how much money he made.
I’d rather someday have people discover that I quietly did more good than I ever talked about.
I’m not there yet.
But I’m working on it.
Causes I Support
Below are some of the organizations and causes I’ve personally chosen to support. They reflect things that matter to me, but they aren’t intended as endorsements that everyone needs to share.
If something here speaks to you, I encourage you to learn more and consider giving.
And if none of them do, find something that does.
You don’t have to change the entire world.
Sometimes it’s enough to make one small piece of it a little better.
And if we’re fortunate enough to be able to do that, I think we probably should.
American Red Cross Besides monetary donations, please donate blood if you are eligible. My last blood donation was 07/23/2026.