Dallas & Rachael Take the Oregon Trail!

Dallas and Rachael Ward and their furry family are making the leap to move across country on a quest to expand their horizons, seek new experiences, and help others. As an artist and a non-profit professional, Dallas and Rachael devote their life to creating beauty and helping others live healthy, full lives. Now they need your help to this take this next step in their journey!

The Who:

Dallas, an art student at Georgia State University recently received his Associates degree in Art, with a focus on Ceramics, graduating with Honors. As he started to explore Bachelors programs in Ceramics he found that most of the programs in Georgia focused on contemporary art to be sold in expensive, fine art galleries. Not to be described as artsy fartsy, Dallas's passion is to create beautiful functional ware, everything from mugs and plates to musical instruments. With clay as his medium, he hopes to spread the love by teaching others how to find joy through ceramics.

Rachael is a lover of farming, good food, and public health. She is passionate about connecting low-income families with fresh, healthy, locally grown food and supporting sustainable farmers. In Georgia she has worked with farmers markets, food pantries, community gardens, and healthcare centers to connect folks with good food. As she moves on in her career, she hopes to learn a variety of strategies for combating hunger while supporting small-scale farmers and adapt these strategies to a global context.

The What:

When Dallas hit a wall with options to continue his Bachelors in Ceramics, he started to look elsewhere. Rachael and Dallas both love mountains, wide open spaces, lush forests, and progressive environments so they looked into schools in Arizona, Colorado, and Oregon. Dallas was accepted into all three ceramics programs and the couple traveled west to visit their potential future homes.

The Where:

After visiting and carefully comparing all of their options, Dallas and Rachael decided to move to Oregon so that Dallas can attend the University of Oregon! With excellent facilities, world renown professors and a focus on creating professional artists it checked all the boxes. Added to this was the lush greenery of the Pacific Northwest (something Colorado and Arizona lacked) and amazing opportunities to support local food and small scale farmers.

The When:

The young couple heads off on the Oregon Trail on July 27th! Why yes, that is very soon! Which leads us to...

The Why:

Why do we need your help? In case you didn't know, moving across the country is EXPENSIVE! It gets even more expensive when you have 5 fluffy animals and you're trying to do it on the salary of a non-profit program manager and an artist.

All funds raised here will go towards the top three most expensive parts of this move:

1) Moving truck- $1,553 (20' truck)

2) Gas to travel 2,700 miles- $1,200 (truck with shitty gas mileage + fuel efficient car)

3) Renting a new home- $2,600 (1st & last month's rent) + $750 pet deposit (Portland's average rent for a 2 bedroom apartment is $1,300/month. We're hoping to move a bit outside the city and find a 2 bedroom house for that same amount. *Fingers crossed*)

That's a grand total of $5,353. We'll cover a majority of it ourselves, in addition to other moving expenses. Can you help us raise $2,600 to cover the remainder??

We both know this is the right move for us. As a wise man once said, "In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety." We can't wait to take this next step into growth and appreciate your help and support to get us there!