Editor’s Note: Andrew Fore reveals Lexington’s plans for 2012 Help-Portrait & a cool way a second location opened up for them.
Last year was the first year for H-P in Lexington, KY and we managed 132 guests and 72 portraits. It was an amazing event and some great stories came out of the day and lots of positive comments, but it wasn’t until a few days ago did the best story come to fruition.
I am in the process of putting together this year’s event and have decided to do two locations in Lexington so we can serve two parts of our city that desperately need this. I already had one location confirmed and had an idea of where I wanted the second location to be, but did not have any solid contacts in that area and was just about to start cold-calling when I got a voicemail on my phone.
It was from a lady who said she and her son were recipients of H-P last year, and she is now part of a church that turns out to be in the very part of town I want to do the second location. She was asking if I would be interested in using their facility. When I called her back she told me about how the event last year was so amazing for her and her son as they did not have any money for pictures or anything last year so they came to the event and were overwhelmed with the love they felt from the volunteers that spent time with them during the shoot, enjoying refreshments, and then the framed picture they received. She wanted to reach out to see if I would be interested in using their facility for H-P this year so she could be a part of the “giving” aspect of H-P after being on the receiving end last year.
Of course her facility is now our second location for this year’s H-P event. We are going to run two locations simultaneously on 12/8/12. What a blessing to be involved with this movement – stories like this one are what it is all about!
Here’s the little guy’s photo taken last year:
Do you know a former recipient of Help-Portrait who is now a volunteer? Share your story with us in the comments below.
