When we first started A Friend Afar, “research” took us on day trips from Atlanta to North Georgia to go vineyard hopping and share with you in this post. We’ve since returned to the North Georgia mountains again and again to discover new places to taste wine. It’s the perfect way to spend a Saturday with the girls, a date, a family outing, and celebrate special occasions. Actually, any reason will do! Here are five more of our favorite North Georgia wineries to visit from Atlanta!
Today is Giving Tuesday! With the holiday season quickly approaching, we thought we’d feature a few our favorite international-focused non-profits! #GivingTuesday is “a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration. Observed on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving.” #GivingTuesday is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year!
“Join the movement and give – whether it’s some of your time, a donation, gift or the power of your voice in your local community. It’s a simple idea. Whether you come together with your family, your community, your company or your organization, find a way to give back and then share your idea. Don’t forget to explore ways to maximize your gift including employee match programs with your employer! Here are a few non-profits we love!
Refugee Women’s Network (RWN) is a non-profit organization located in Decatur, Georgia and we both serve on the Board as volunteers. RWN inspires and equips refugee and immigrant women to become leaders in their homes, businesses, and communities through three programs. For more than 20 years, RWN has continued to be the only organization in Georgia that specifically serves refugee women. RWN’s spectrum of services meets women where they are; whether they’ve been in the US for three months or three years. Whether they need help enrolling their children in school or they’re preparing to open their own business, we help women on their journey to become independent and self-sufficient.
Social Adjustment services are provided to help refugees assimilate into their new lives in the U.S. and to encourage self-reliance so that individuals and families can successfully navigate similar situations in the future. Leadership Training gives refugee and immigrant women the skills and confidence to be advocates for themselves, their families, and their communities. Women’s Economic Empowerment services are provided to equip refugee and immigrant women with the knowledge and resources to become economically self-sufficient through employment, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. Donate here!
Source: https://www.cartercenter.org
Meagan has been working for The Carter Center for over three ears now, but as an international affairs grad from Georgia Tech, she has admired and followed the organization for almost a decade now. The Carter Center has two main divisions: Peace and Health. Peace programs include human rights, election monitoring, and the newest program: Mobilizing Action for Women and Girls Initiative.
The Carter Center’s health programs are world famous. The organization has been leading the fight to eradicate Guinea Worm since 1986, and it’s poised to be the second disease ever eradicated! There were an estimated 3.5 million cases when The Carter Center started its program back in 1986, and there are currently only 19 so far in 2016. Health programs at The Carter Center focus on neglected tropical diseases including river blindness, schistosomiasis, and trachoma, but there’s also a mental health program that is working to reduce stigma and discrimination. Donations go a long way! $15 will cover the cost for 50 pipe filters used to eradicate Guinea Worm, and $30 pays for river blindness elimination for more than 100 people.
CARE has been a organization Stephanie’s admired ever since first hearing about it in college, especially because of its focus on empowering women and girls. She’s been working there a little over two years! Founded in 1945 with the creation of the CARE Package®, CARE is a leading
humanitarian organization fighting global poverty and working to achieve social justice. CARE places special focus on working alongside women and girls because we know that we cannot overcome poverty until all people have equal rights and opportunities. We believe that, when equipped with the proper resources, women and girls have the power to lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty. That’s why women and girls are at the heart of CARE’s community-based efforts to improve education, health, and water; create economic opportunity, respond to emergencies and confront hunger.
Donations to cover general operations are always needed but if you are planning on donating as part of a holiday gift, consider giving a Gift of Lasting Change. These gifts are a way of filling a symbolic CARE package with items including school uniforms for girls, Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) kits, and a goat. Watch this video celebrating the 25th anniversary of VSLA to learn more about CARE’s economic development work. In honor of #GivingTuesday, CARE’s board of directors will match every dollar you give to go three times as far – but just until midnight on Tuesday!
What’s your favorite non-profit? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Wow we can’t believe we’re already a quarter of the way through 2016! We thought it would be fun to provide an update on our 12 trips in 12 months effort so far and our plans going forward. We’d also love to hear from those of you joining us in the challenge on where you’ve been and where you’re planning to go.
If you missed our original #Take12Trips post, be sure to check it out. Our New Year’s Resolution is to travel more often and travel differently, and it’s working!
Stephanie started off the year in Florida visiting the Florida Keys and Everglades National Park. Later in January she also took an overnight trip to the Chattanooga area with a fantastic stay at the Chanticleer Inn.
Meagan’s January trip took her to the beautiful and delicious Beechwood Inn in Clayton, Georgia.
We took a fun girls trip to coastal Georgia! First we went to St. Marys where we stayed at the lovely Spencer House Inn. Then we hopped over to Cumberland Island for a night at the stunning Greyfield Inn.
March took Stephanie on a brief trip to Phoenix to catch a spring training game with her husband Ed. Meagan & Ryan did a weekend trip to Macon to stay at the 1842 Inn!
We both went to Irvine, California for the Women in Travel Summit (WITS) 2016! Read a little about our experience there on our new friend Lindsay’s blog I’ve Been Bit. The night before we flew back home we went whale watching with Captain Dave’s and saw 5 grey whales. It was pretty exciting!
Meagan is more than a little in love with her day job. The Carter Center just held a staff retreat in Plains, Georgia, home of President and Mrs. Carter, and Meagan and her husband went to check out the small town. It’s the perfect example of a tiny southern town. The shops that you see above are all that make up downtown Plains, and that’s incredibly charming. Naturally, there’s a lot of President Carter pride there.
Stephanie is headed to Dubai and Durham, North Carolina for work in April! She’s hoping to have a bit of time to explore both.
[Photo credit: Ulrich Latzenhofer]
Meagan and her husband are heading to Istanbul for the first leg of their trip and will be there on their 5th wedding anniversary. They’ll be spending nights on both the Asian side of the Bosphorus in Kadikoy and the European side in Sultanahmet.
[Photo Credit: Kasbah du Toubkal]
Stephanie is dreaming about a domestic National Park visit for June but doesn’t have definite plans yet.
Stephanie is in the early stages of planning an epic Sound of Music tour of Austria, visiting WWII sites in Germany and maybe a visit to Prague in the Czech Republic.
Meagan has too many ideas, but none of them are concrete. Does anyone have a ticket to Hamilton that they’d like to share?
We’re both headed to Ireland with our husbands for the Georgia Tech versus Boston College American football game in Dublin! We can’t wait to explore the city and also see some of the iconic Irish countryside. If you’ve been, please give us your tips below since we’re still planning our trip!
At this point we just have ideas but nothing firm planned! Stephanie is dreaming about celebrating her three year wedding anniversary at Big Bend National Park in October. She also wants to visit Biltmore Estates in Asheville in December to see it all decorated for Christmas!
Meagan wants to take the Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad through the North Georgia Mountains and is also looking at a trip with Georgia Conservancy.
Where have you been so far this year? Do you have any exciting trips on your calendar? We’d love to hear all about them in the comments below.
If you have tips for any of our upcoming destinations, we’re all ears!
For our February trip of our Take 12 Trips Challenge, we began our weekend away at the Historic Spencer House Inn in St. Marys, Georgia. St. Marys is the perfect coastal town to use as a base for not only exploring Cumberland Island National Seashore (since the park ferry departs from the port) but also other surrounding areas including Savannah, the Golden Isles, Fernandina Beach, Jacksonville and even St. Augustine. At a little over a 5-hour drive from Atlanta, an hour and 45 minutes from Savannah, and 45 minutes from Jacksonville, it’s a great long weekend destination.
The Spencer House Inn was built in 1872 and was known as one of the finest hotels in all of southeast Georgia. It operated as a hotel until 1942 when it changed ownership and was run as a rooming house. In the 1980s it was renovated and used as a professional building until 1990 when it was restored again and preserved as the Historic Spencer House Inn. The current owners, Mary and Mike Neff, took over in 1995!
