July 11, 2017 – As a father, outdoor enthusiast, and long time supporter of Kindering, it felt ideal to combine my passions and hike the Washington Section of the Pacific Crest Trail to support Kindering and their mission to serve children with special needs and their families.  Kindering is launching some BIG projects and I wanted to do something equally BIG!

I founded CFO Selections in Seattle 15 years ago, motivated by a desire to reinvent my work-life balance to spend less time in the office and more time enjoying the outdoors with my family. The CFO Selections leadership team also committed to fulfilling another shared passion: to reinvest in the communities from which we earn our living. We established the CFOS Foundation in 2007 to do just that, with a focus on foster children and the organizations that serve them, which is how I learned about Kindering and their work with children who have special needs and other risk factors.

Children and families at Kindering move mountains every day, exhibiting uncommon courage and striving relentlessly to reach their fullest potential. In honor of the obstacles overcome and the heights reached by these children, I’m setting out to tackle a few hills of my own by hiking all 511 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington from the Columbia River to the terminus over the Canadian border.

Kindering is poised to expand their ability to serve more families by opening a new campus in Renton, by hiring more gold-standard professionals, and by continuing to provide a space for families to receive services, regardless of their ability to pay! My goal is to raise $600,000 so that Kindering‘s big goals can be a reality!

I look forward to sharing my journey with you here on this blog, and hope you continue to follow along. Thanks for joining me and Courage the Lion, Kindering’s mascot, on this Trek for Tots.

Learn more and give!

(Pictured above: Courage the Lion and Tisza the dog joined me for a training day.)