Trampus Boyles, from Hedgesville, WV, sent these stories and photos from their Help-Portrait December 2011 event:

As youth leaders at our church, we decided to get our teens involved in Help-Portrait. One of our teens invited a classmate to the event. When classmate and her mother arrived, her mother briefly told us about how they lost their house in September 2011 due to a fire. After losing everything in the fire, her mother was ecstatic that she was able to her daughter’s picture taken and start a new collection of memories.

The last family was invited by one of our youth leaders. This was a mother and daughter family that had been involved in a very bad domestic relationship. Her husband is now incarcerated and she is working hard to start a new life. The portrait is representation of her new beginning with her daughter.

Whether it is to celebrate a new beginning or to provide a memory for another, there are so many lives that are impacted by Help-Portrait. Thank you for allowing us to be apart of this!