I am proud to be a participating photographer with Operation: Love Reunited. A wonderful organization which tries to ease the pain and loneliness caused when our military family members are sent overseas. I have several people in my own family who have been (or currently are) in the armed forces. My brother spent a year in Afghanistan, and still continues to serve in his state’s National Guard.
As an Op:Love photographer, I offer a special package for families who have a family member who is about to be deployed, currently deployed, or soon to come home. The pre-deployment and deployment packages include a special, patriotic-themed portrait session, a complimentary 5×5 photo book to be sent to the soldier overseas, and as a bonus, an 11×14 wall portrait for the family. The homecoming session is not a studio session, but includes photo-journalistic coverage of the soldier’s homecoming arrival. As the nature of this session is candid, instead of a photo book, the family will receive a disk of medium resolution images (up to 8×10 prints in size) and a print release for their personal use. These packages are offered at no charge to the family. In addition, I also offer a 15% discount on all services and products to anyone who is a member (past or present) of our nation’s armed forces. Please mention this discount to me at the time of your portrait session. Op:Love sessions must follow all the terms and conditions found on the Operation: Love Reunited website. Again, there is no charge or obligation from the family to purchase anything above the special package.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This last year, I have also been very active in helping with the fight against cancer. For both the Polk County Relay For Live as well as our local BRAdway Show, I donated the use of the PhotoBooth to the event. PhotoBooth prints were sold per sheet, and 100% of the proceeds were given to the American Cancer Society. I am thrilled to be able to offer something that has been beneficial to this organization. I continue to hope and pray that they are able to find a cure for cancer soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Recently, I also donated my services to the Polk County Humane Society. After reading about how their shelter has been over-full for the last few months due to a large influx of animals (especially cats due to an animal hording situation), I was moved to help out. I (and my husband who was “volunteered” to help out!) spent several hours photographing all the adoption-eligible animals at the shelter and the images were donated to be used on their website. I plan to continue to help them by photographing animals as they come in.