Support me!

Here’s the need: First things first, my main goal is to raise $1500 in monthly support! This will cover my basic budget for my time out here. If you would like to give towards something specific that would bless me immensely, here are some goals of mine for the next year:

Car - $2000 ish

Sony 70-200 G-Master Lens for my A7iii - $2600

DJI Pro drone - $1000

New Taylor guitar - $800

Current Status: $900 in monthly support (as of 4/10/19) - Goal: 1500

Here’s how you can give: click the button below this to support me monthly (Tax deductible through STN) or you can Venmo me (@jonathan-caliguire), or send me a check at

Jon Caliguire 

C/o Surfing The Nations

P.O.BOX 860366

Wahiawa, HI 96786

Some Thoughts on Living on Generosity

To be quite honest, it’s been quite difficult to accept that I need to fundraise in order to continue volunteering with Surfing the Nations. Each of the staff at Surfing the Nations is a full time volunteer, each one of them with their own network of supporters. My goal was to figure out a way to get paid for something such as photography on the side, while still serving STN as best I could. I quickly found out that work at STN demands quite a bit from you.  It is not light work. Many countless hours of planning and work go into everything that STN does - each staff member here works their tail off for each event, program, and department that they operate. My notion of supporting myself quickly melted away when I saw how hard each staff member worked to make STN excellent. 

Though it was becoming obvious to me that I would need to fundraise, I still had a mindset that it was wrong to ask for money. I still felt the voice in my head telling me to do it all myself. It wasn’t until nearly the end of my internship that my heart changed towards this.

Our internship went on an inter-island outreach to Big Island in November, to serve and build relationships with some STN friends out there. When we were there, one amazing family we were working with gave one of our team members, Teka, one of their guitars as a gift. This family, Anthony and Anita, had literally just met Teka. I told them I thought their generosity was amazing, and Anthony quickly responded with this:

“Our wealth and possessions are like a river. Nothing is meant to stay with us, just flow through us. We want to give as freely as we receive. When you dam up your river and try as hard as you can to hold onto everything, the water gets stagnant and infested with all kinds of gross things that you don’t want”

Anthony’s words moved me quite a bit. Such a simple metaphor, and yet it presents such a profound way of life. People around Surfing the Nations are some of the most generous people I’ve ever met, and yet they live completely off other peoples generosity. Generosity is self-perpetuating, in a sense that people who have received greatly will develop a giving disposition. 

This season, like none other in my life, has put me in a position of neediness. It is so easy to go about life managing your need so you can always make it on your own. It is a very different thing to be reliant on God’s provision, and provision through other people. This goes far beyond finances. Being a full time volunteer has humbled me, and taught me that it is actually such a blessing to be in need. I have started to see that being supported by friends and family is really just a form of them trusting you to continue paying the generosity forward. This way, generosity can be traced through a line of people who have received and given again. 

There is so much to learn from this chain reaction. It reveals to me that nothing we own can ever really be held on to, only borrowed. It is so much better to understand that early in life, and take advantage of the opportunity it presents - to let it all flow through you freely, rather than trying to hold onto as much as you can. 

So, my promise to those who would like to support me is that I will give freely from what has been given to me. My goal is to raise more than I need to survive so that I can also be generous to care for the needs of others. I want to buy coffee, cloths and dinner for the homeless people I bump into. I want to bless other STNers who need help on their journey, I want to have enough to be able to go the extra mile for the people of Hawaii. So if my goals seem ambitions, that is why. And if this is not the right opportunity for you to give, that is totally cool! I am neither offended, nor do I feel rejected. All I have is gratitude. 

Thank you,

Sincerely, thank you for being a part of my life.

Best,

Jon