Upcoming Events
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Mingle Seattle
Saturday, April 1th
7:30 pm
Duke's on Alki (upstairs)
2516 Alki Ave SW, Seattle
$18 per person (cash at door), which includes appetizers and donation to
Crooked Trails
Mingle is a group of Seattle professionals who are interested in meeting
new people for social and business networking; this month's event benefits Crooked Trails!
Venice is Sinking
A Masked Carnival Ball
NEW DATE!
Saturday, April 18th
8:00 pm at Fremont Abbey
$50 pre-sale, $65 door
www.carnivalseattle.com
This is the event you and your friends will be talking about for months to come!
Inspirational Eco-tourism Around the World
Wednesday, May 6th
7:00 pm
Anacortes Public Library
1220 10th Street
free
Chris Mackay highlights the work of Crooked Trails empowering indigenous communities around the world through responsible travel.
Unbound Conference
Friday & Saturday, May 8-9
Fri 6pm - 11pm
Sat 9am - 5pm
University Presbyterian Church
4540 15th Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98105
Registration: $10
Local educators and practitioners lead workshops focused on psychological, political & economic concerns related to human trafficking.
Register at www.freedominitiative.org
Check out full event descriptions at www.crookedtrails.org
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JUICE Global Dance Party a Big Success!
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A huge thanks to all of you who came out to the Juice Dance Party at Lo-Fi!
Besides being a total blast, we raised over $3000 for the four non-profit recipients: Community Empowerment Network, Ama Foundation, The Bo M. Karlsson Foundation and Crooked Trails.
Woo hoo!
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Oaxaca, Mexico Program
Sign up Now!
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July 3 - 11, 2009
$1680
During this 8 day program, participants will not
only get to see an amazing Zapotec festival, but experience all that goes into
making such a festival take place.
Come to Oaxaca "through the
backdoor" with our Oaxacan-based partner Eric Mindling, meet his friends who are making festivals in
Oaxaca happen, and see why there is so much more to understand and love
about our southern neighbor.
Click here to learn more...
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Get your Crooked Trails t-shirt!
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"I love my country, but I think we should start seeing other people"
Available in various colors and sizes. Email angela@crookedtrails.org for size/color availability.
T-shirts cost $20 plus $5 for shipping & handling.
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 Welcome to all our new members!
An incredible number of new members, travelers and volunteers have joined Crooked Trails in the past few. months. Hats off to all of you for your support. You all will notice, we're notice switching to a bi-monthly format on the enews.
As many of you know, for the past 10 years I have been Crooked Trails' International Program Director and have spent the majority of my time overseas working with our partner communities and leading Crooked Trails high school, university, family and adult programs. Having a baby (my son, Ash) three months ago has without doubt kept me at home but not slowed me down.
Crooked Trails has been busy over the past few months focusing on community at home. In February, we began our local community service program working with Cascade Middle School supporting refugee families. Keep your eyes open for upcoming events. In March, we sponsored Green Drinks and worked with Eileen Fisher to help raise money for Maiti Nepal, a nonprofit rescuing children from sexual slavery. Coming up in April you can join us for the party of the year, our Venetian Masked Ball, supporting Crooked Trails.
If you are like me, you are ready to travel back overseas to volunteer your time in a community while exploring one of our partner countries. Check out this issue's two featured trips: Volunteer Service and Customized Travel for families and groups of friends. The time to travel is now; the dollar is strong, flights are cheap and communities are still in need. Contact me if you want to build a customized trip for you and your family or friends. We have some very exciting service project in communities in Nepal, Peru, India, Bhutan and Ecuador.
 Hope to see you on the trail this year. Ash and I will hit the crooked trail again in September and join our friends in Chinchero, Peru for a special invitation to one of their most important annual festivals. Come join me!
Tammy Leland
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Buy your tickets NOW! They're going quick!
The Venetian Masked Carnival Ball
CONTEST!!
Whoever refers the most people who buy tickets to the Ball will get all their drinks for FREE at the Ball; plus a night's stay at a Seattle hotel the night of the Ball. So, get your friends to come, and be sure to tell them to write your name in when it asks, "How did you hear about the Ball?"
Our most extravagant party of the year, the Venetian Carnival, is coming! Buy your tickets, mark your calendar for April 18th and start pulling together your lavish party ensemble now!
Venice is Sinking: A Venetian Masked Carnival Ball brings Venice's Carnival to Seattle with a night that will dazzle the senses, featuring an amazing array of circus troupe performers and hypnotic world music rhythms. Much like Venice's Carnival celebration, Venice is Sinking celebrates world music, featuring local Latin/Caribbean band, Tumbao and KEXP World Pop DJ, Darek Mazzone. Also providing all-night entertainment to delight and entertain guests are the performers from Pure Cirkus. There will be aerialists, contortionists, break dancers, fire performers, burlesque dancers and more appearing throughout the evening.
Attendees are encouraged to dress in masquerade; and are required to wear a Venetian style mask to gain entry.
Tickets will on sale online NOW at the event website, www.carnivalseattle.com
They'll also be available at the door, but only if they don't sell out in advance. We'll see you at the par-tay!
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Featured Trip
Volunteer Peru Program, May 22 - 31
Only $1399 - last chance to hop on-board!
 Looking for a short volunteer vacation this spring that won't break the bank? This 10-day program is a perfect fit. We still have room for you to join us on this unique journey.
The focus of our Volunteer Peru program is living and working in our partner village of Chinchero, Peru. Our dear friends and hosts, Paulino and Vilma, welcome us into their home, where we'll be working alongside them to help finish the boarding school they have created. Soon they'll be welcoming kids from the surrounding highlands, where they'll have access to education, nutritional food, good shelter and traditional weaving skills.
 At only 10 days and $1399, it's a unique opportunity to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience in cultural exchange without a huge time or financial commitment. For those who are interested, we're offering an optional 2-day extension to visit Machu Picchu, and we can always help travelers add additional legs to their journey.
We are booking NOW for this program, so if you would like to join us, fill out the online application or contact our offices today.
Click here to read a traveler's account of a program just like this one.
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Featured Trip
Custom Private Programs
We giggled endlessly as Fagustina tried to teach me how to weave the simpliest Inca designs. She had been doing this since she was three years old and I couldn't seem to even make a simple X. Others in our group were helping Vilma and Roxana prepare a feast of lamb, corn and potatoes for the festivities later in the evening. They practiced their Spanish and tried a bit of Quechua with grandma in the family kitchen. Earlier that day we had visited the community temple before digging in to help make mud bricks for the new boarding school that would house the school children of a smaller, neglected, nearby community.
I was accompanying a group of Seattle travelers to Peru who had come to me 8 months prior knowing that they wanted to go to Peru, they wanted to go for two weeks, they preferred a guide and translator and they wanted to volunteer their time in an indigenous community as well as explore some of the mountains and ancient Inca sites. We began with a simple itinerary and over meetings and phone conversations we custom made the program to fit the group's physical abilities, spiritual wishes, preferred dates and volunteer service ideals.
 Custom travel programs for families or groups of friends have been a popular alternative to Crooked Trails scheduled departures and are a good fit for the communities in the countries where we work. Through our partnerships with communities worldwide, we are able to facilitate meaningful travel programs for private groups that involve meaningful homestay, cultural exchange and service programs in addition to visiting some of the most important scenic and historical sites in the country.
Are you planning to travel soon but are looking for something different for your next family getaway or teen's spring break? Are you and your friends looking for a way to travel together, give back and have fun? Contact us at programs@crookedtrails.org and discover custom travel; a way to experience different cultures and help others in need.
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The Lasso of Truth
A chat with Philip Swanstrom Shaw from Golden Lasso
 Over the years, Crooked Trails has received a lot of support and helping hands from "angels" in our midst. Often, it is just the thing we needed at the exact moment it is most beneficial.
When the mavens at local marketing firm Golden Lasso
offered up their pro-bono services to help us develop a new set of
marketing tools and messaging, the timing was impeccable. The ensuing
months of working with them were a testament to a true business with
heart. The care, patience, respect and generosity they brought to the
table while working on our behalf allowed us to reach beyond our own
mental cul-de-sacs and aspire for greater heights in delivering the
message of who we are and what we do.
Wrapping up the current phase of our project with Golden Lasso (we'll
be happy to look towards working with them more in the future!), we
asked Golden Lasso's Creative Director Philip Swanstrom Shaw a few
questions to learn more about this extraordinary group and their vision.
Read More...
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A Peek Inside Cascade View
by Crooked Trails intern Lindsey Goldberg
It has been quite exciting to launch a partnership between Cascade View
Elementary School and Crooked Trails. It is powerful to have found a
way to fulfill the mission of Crooked Trails, to facilitate cultural
exchange rooted in service learning, locally. Already we have developed
meaningful relationships with members of their academic team and look
forward to the relationships that we will cultivate with the students
in the near future.
Kelly Meloche, volunteer, "One thing I noticed hanging in the halls was
art that prompted the children to complete the sentence 'If I were
president I would....." One child wrote "If I were president I would make
sure everyone had a bed to sleep in". Which made me realize that not
having a bed is often a reality these children face in their lives and
how scary that must be." Read more...
Want to join the ongoing Cascade View Elementary School volunteer project? Drop us a line at volunteers@crookedtrails.org
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GreenDrinks: We Came, We Chatted, We Drank
Crooked Trails staff, board and volunteers had a blast hosting the March GreenDrinks at Ecohaus. A huge thanks to all of you who came out!
Folks from all over the green spectrum came out to connect, learn about our work, share a drink and get to know each other.
Besides holding a bingo game and drawing for door prizes, we also gathered GreenDrinkers' nuggets of wisdom from their own travel experiences. A few of the highlights:
What's the most exciting means of transportation you have found abroad?
"Green Sea Turtle, Galapagos, Ecuador"
"The top of a bus for 4 hours. Pig behind me in a bag - alive. 2 chickens, many bags of coal + me = fun in Palawan!"
"Free bike share in Amsterdam!"
What is your favorite food experience traveling?
"Hot peppers while vegetarian in kurdish Turkey but forgot to wash my hands before hitting the head for a whizz."
"Whatever's available in the Sahara"
"Breadfruit over an open fire, Tuamotu, FP"
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Seattle-area Eileen Fisher event raises money & awareness for Maiti Nepal
 Three Eileen Fisher stores in the Seattle area contributed 10% of their sales on Saturday, March 28th to one of our favorite causes, Maiti Nepal.
Representatives from Crooked Trails were onhand at the downtown, University Village and Bellevue stores to talk about the Maiti Nepal's efforts to rescue and rehabilitate girls sold into sexual slavery with Eileen Fisher shoppers, many of whom made a concious choice to come and do their spring shopping on that day in order to help raise funds.
We also sold gorgeous, handmade beaded bracelets and purses on behalf of the girls, raising $2840 from those sales alone.
If you haven't already, be sure to visit the Friends of Maiti Nepal website to learn more about this amazing organization.
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An Update From the Board of Directors
by Board Vice-President, Claudia Capitini
 Its been a short month, but so much has happened with the Crooked Trails
Board of Directors.
We are so excited to bring on 6 new members to help us become a successful, sustainable organization. These folks have over 55 years of combined experience in everything from entrepreneurship to cultural anthropology. In the coming months, we will be hearing from
Board members in our newsletter as they develop projects and initiatives in the community to expand the important work of Crooked Trails.
Most recently, our Board worked hard to prepare for the March Seattle Greendrinks event on March 10 at Ecohaus. Many board members and staff attended to help power the event, answer questions and give information about Crooked Trails.Just for fun, we had posters available at Greendrinks where participants could jot down their favorite stories, quotes, and crazy things they have eaten from their international travel experiences. Our new board members will select winners from these entries and they will
appear in next months newsletter, so stay tuned!
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Many thanks to the volunteers who have been helping us out...
Alana Scalise Robin Anderson Peter Newbury
Alexis Bonoff Nick Niccolls Emily Jump
Dan Travers Bill Affolter & Nate
Susan Van Rooyen Philip Van Rooyen
Tad Bradley Heather Kliment Kelly Meloche
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Quote of the Month
Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"
~ Robin Williams
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