Throughout our lives, Doug & I enjoyed spending time with so many dreamers and doers. We especially enjoyed getting in on the "ground floor" of young people starting out their journeys in life. Here are four stories about some young people we are excited to support with the Are We Having Fun Yet? Adventure Fund:

Chloe Baldwin has had a dream of theater in her mind from a young age. Chloe is a creative entrepreneur who just made the leap to Los Angeles after a few years developing her professional acting, fight choreography, and creative consulting in Chicago. She loves telling and sharing stories that speak to our collective humanity. She graduated from DePaul University and has performed at Goodman Theater, in tv shows for Amazon Studios, and more. She's so thankful to be a recipient of this fund, of course for the assistance it will give in her pursuits, but even more so in what it stands for.

Sy Salinas has been enthralled with flying for most of his 16 years. Doug loved spending time with Sy and sharing the joy of aviation with him. Now Sy has begun to embrace another adventure, Super Cup Series racing. Lots of adventures lie ahead for this young man!

Avelardo Rivera is a recent grad from the University of Illinois having studied Agricultural and Consumer Economics. Born and raised in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood, Ave made the decision to explore the world outside of Chicago and was the first in his family to attend college. Proficient in Spanish, French, Portuguese, American Sign Language and Sierra Leonean Krio, Ave’s latinx heritage has positioned him to be people-oriented and culturally aware/sensitive in the context of international affairs. His curiosity and passion for community and development has led him to work for USAID-funded projects across Sub-Saharan Africa, working with teams in Malawi, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, and Ethiopia. Currently, Ave is a Program Coordinator at Banyan Global where he provides financial, administrative, and programmatic support to assist in the implementation of their worldwide projects. Ave’s work is rooted in the belief that people have an innate ability to bring about change. He enjoys working with different capacity building projects to ensure that people have the knowledge, experience, and momentum to maintain impact beyond the length of interventions.

The EAA Young Eagles program was something Doug loved to support. Young Eagles was launched in 1992 to give interested young people, ages 8 - 17, an opportunity to go flying in a general aviation airplane. Doug could always be found at the airport giving kids their first airplane ride and lesson. He broadened many horizons through the program and freely shared his passion of aviation with so many kids over the years.

These three young adventurers and the Young Eagles program are the first recipients of Doug's Are We Having Fun Yet? Adventure Fund. Our family started this fund as our way of encouraging & supporting all of the "outside the box" thinkers that Doug loved so much.

Good luck kids, have some FUN!

Deb Harford & Family

First Fund Recipients Ready for Adventure!

Curtis & His Cars!

The Encouragement To Go For It!

Are We Having Fun Yet? Adventure Fund