In 2015 I volunteered last minute at an event I knew nothing about, with a friend in Manhattan, Kansas. It was called Help Portrait, and they ended up having a lot more volunteers than they needed. It worked out because I spent the entire day watching in awe of what this event was all about.
It was a community of photographers, editors, makeup artists, hair stylists, and local volunteers coming together to provide professional family portraits, printed and framed, for families who need it. It was started in 2008 by a few friends in Nashville, and had become an annual, international event. I decided I needed to make this happen, and founded a chapter of Help Portrait in Lawrence.
Over the next year I began pulling together of what ended up being a team of 27 people made up of photographers, editors, family, friends, makeup artists, and anyone who was willing to donate their time for the day. We raised funds for supplies and worked with the City of Lawrence to rent a space for free.
A friend of mine and I spearheaded the annual event over the next several years and grew the team to 62 volunteers, helping a total of over 140 families to date. Local stores and coffee shops were sponsoring the event with food donations, larger venues were providing their space free of charge, and a professional videographer came in year after year to document this priceless experience. One of those videos can be found here: shorturl.at/opOS2
Before our most recent event in 2019, Karuna Digital was kind enough to donate their hours and web developer to build the phenomenal website we have now at helpportraitlawrence.org. I worked with him to create a sitemap, the overall aesthetic, content, and photography. This has established us as a professional organization for future Lawrence events, and what will hopefully become an annual initiative in Kansas City, as well.
My role as Event Coordinator and Art Director has required anything from marketing, and networking, managing details for our tech team, designing collateral, to coordinating all supplies and recruiting volunteers. It has and will continue to be a valuable leadership experience, as well as a priceless opportunity to give back to the community in a creative way.