These past couple of nights have been full of good times and good feelings and truth be told, it has all be very emotional for me.
My husband has been a volunteer soccer coach as well as a paid HS soccer coach for almost 6 years, we know the amount of time spent volunteering to spend with kids from all walks and income levels to play a sport that they all enjoy. The same is true for my daughter's coach. He so willingly and lovingly gave up his time and expertise to help our girls get to 2nd in the state in their division. I'm not sure our girls completely or fully grasp that - but it is honestly some of the best kind of stuff that any person is made of to dedicate their time to the community and want nothing back in return, and I will tell you this man is humble.
But it made me sit up and think. I have always wanted to help - always. And without a thing in return. I've been walked all over and taken advantage of because of this. It burns, I have to say - a little. But all in all, I can say honestly I would never change what I did.
Things that are the most important to me are women and children. I have worked in a battered women's shelter, I have helped with poverty stricken children, I've donated thousands of dollars to organizations, I've baked for team fundraising events, I've volunteered my time in classrooms as an educator and as a class parent, I've delivered baskets of food and solicited businesses for charitable support. I've also been the receiver of charity - two of which I've never properly been able to share my gratitude or appreciation for. Firstly for the mother of a co-worker who gave me $50 when I had separated from my ex and had moved home without a penny to my name and I was able to buy diapers for my daughter. For that act of kindness I am humbly thankful for and hope that I was able to pay it forward. Secondly for the immigration lawyer who I was connected to via a friend who helped me get my husband over to the United States legally, without requesting a penny; without them I would be married to my best friend who would still be living in the UK. I hope I paid it forward for them as well. And for all the smaller and possibly less memorable acts of kindness bestowed on me during my life, they have all had an impact on my life and hopefully I have continued to pay it forward.
I'm still very involved. I haven't stopped. I have projects in my head all the time about how I can help my community and possibly ease the burden of someone's hardship.
Things I'm working on directly through Portrait Expressions:
- Displaced Workers Headshots: I've been laid off too and right now is even harder to find a job. I want to help these people stand out from the crowd by offering free professional headshots to be used on LinkedIn or facebook.
- Charity Model Search: The 2012 Charity Model Search provides funds to support the ongoing activities of the charitable organization called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep or www.nilmdts.org. The mission of this not-for-profit is to introduce remembrance photography to parents suffering the loss of a baby with the gift of professional portraiture. I am not a volunteer photographer through NILMDTS, I am a charitable photographer through the annual Charity Model Search and have raised over $ 600 and hope to increase that amount every year.
- Help Portrait: Help-Portrait is a community of photographers coming together across the world to use their photography skills to give back to their local community. One day a year we take family portraits for members of the community for free. Something they may never get.
- School Fundraising through Gift Certificate Sales: When I partner with a school, the gift certificate is purchased by a student for $19.99 and the school automatically gets $10. The other $9.99 covers nothing more that administrative costs. The gift certificate includes a 30 minute portrait session and Portrait Art, usually a 10x13 family portrait. The school has the potential to earn between $10 and $10,000 (based on 1000 sales) easily. Without door to door sales. When this happens, it frees up the school to focus on one thing and not worry about the details. The reason I do this is two fold. First, education is expensive and there is never enough funding. I remember the days of being told at PTO meetings by the Principal about having to nickel and dime all the way down to the rolls of paper towels. Sports funding is declining as is the ever declining arts funding. $10 or $10,000 can go a long way when needed for simple things or additional learning tools. Knowledge is power. Secondly, kids need to feel good about what they are doing for the community as well. Photographs are the capturing of memories and our lifeline to the past. It isn't about getting the picture taken, it's about the journey that got them there. And they are only there because they were able to support the school.
- International Women's Day, Connecting Women, Inspiring Girls: This is less of a fundraising effort and more of a story and heritage project. Our girls are the future. More women are entering male dominated careers everyday, all over the world. It is up to us as Women to inspire our daughters and the girls around us to always be hungry. Willie Wonka said, We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams. We need to inspire our girls to dream and create and live life with passion and to never settle for less. The project will focus on creating portraiture for mothers and daughters, sisters, bestfriends who inspire one another and who want to leave a legacy of hope and courage.
What are you doing to give back? Share it with me! I'd love to hear all the ways we are making our communities and our world a better place.
