Monday, April 13, 2009

The Portriat Project Lo Down.



that was HANDS DOWN one of the coolest outreach projects I have been a part of...EVER.
really, it was simple.
Go, take pictures of the recent graduates, and their families if applicable, from the local homeless shelter.
These individuals have been working very very hard for 6-8 months learning how to love, cope and survive on their own.

The shelter had, in the past, just taken them to Wally World - but this....
Well, you can see from just these two pictures, this wasn't Wally World.

Melissa - the gal I'm so privileged to call my friend - bought equipment - lots of equipment - JUST FOR THIS project.
She and I hand made the back drops (my fingernails are still black - it's really gross)
And then a team of six of us packed everything up, hauled it to Open Door Mission and for 2 1/2 hrs we assisted Melissa while she did 18 different sessions.
The mission will be paying about $7.50 a person to get them an entire package of their pictures to keep.

I was like on speed or something.
I was having so much fun my energy level was about that of a 10 year old ADHD little boy.
Really, ask anyone who was there...they'll tell you.
I was ridiculously giddy.

You would have been too.
The faces on these people were OUT OF THIS WORLD.

See that family up there?
Yeah, that mama hadn't seen one of her children in that photo since he was 18 months old.
He had a super cool foster family that brought him all the way out to the shelter just for the photo shoot.
This was the only photography she'd ever had of any of her kids.
So, she left with tears in her eyes of joy and we left with tears in our eyes of disbelief that we actually got to be a part of God blessing her like that.

The men.....I can't even begin to tell you how incredible it was to give them 5 min of confidence and to see them hold their heads high, puff out their chests and SMILE (well, if they had teeth anyway ;-)

There were grandmas, mamas with kids, mamas who couldn't have their children there but came anyway, couples and lots of men!
God bless them.
They worked hard....they deserved this.

AND I CAN'T WAIT TO DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN......
so stinkin' cool.

(and as usual, my words are failing just how awesome this was)

9 comments:

Stacy said...

Out of all the things you do - this one has given me the most goosebumps everytime you mention it. I'm overcome with emotion when I think about these families, and what a special treat this was. Wow.

the Knights said...

So strange that the other commenter, Stacy, mentioned goosebumps - that's EXACTLY what I was coming over from google reader to write!?!
This is SO SO SO very cool, Holly. I'm totally in awe! You go girl!!!

Courtney said...

yup. goosebumps. SO stinkin' cool. wow.

Cassie said...

so awesome! thanks for sharing, holly!!

Anonymous said...

Diddo.. and my font won't let me write it as big as I'd like but
WOW!
-Ginger

Anonymous said...

Ok, Can I PLEASE come next time? PLEASE think of me if you ever need extra help...PLEASE...

There is a gal in the program there now whose kiddos have been coming to camp for the past 5 years...a family with a special place in my heart. Maybe you'll get to take their picture! How cool!

One Time With Aimee said...

I would LOVE more info on this - could maybe do something like this in Phoenix. If you have a chance, let me know.

Sounds absolutely amazing.

Beckysblog said...

That is unbelievable...

Created For His Glory said...

LOVE THIS IDEA!!!!!