So here it is folks, the weekend that we have been working towards for a better part of the year.
Help Portrait Milwaukee is in full swing! We started off yesterday with a large group of subjects to photograph and a large supporting cast. Not much more you can ask for right? …. That’s what I thought 
Its amazing to see what this has come to be in the past three years of doing this. The first year was us not knowing a lick about what we were doing in terms of photography event management and our support staff out numbering the subjects we had to photograph, to now we have it down were we could do it in our sleep. And not to mention the amount of people we are giving back to grows by leaps and bounds each year.
So what makes Milwaukee’s Help Portrait group different than most? Well, instead of setting up shop in one location and expecting people to come find us, we find them. The first year of doing this we setup shop in a studio and hopped for the best. That year we photographed maybe 20 people through the course of the day. I know that sounds like a lot of prints to give, but we wanted… needed to do more. This lead to devising a plan that would allow us to reach a greater base of people. The result was finding shelters, rehabilitation facilities, and nursing homes, contacting them and gaining trust to show why we were really there. This lead to a great turn out and an amazing amount of portraiture given. This year we will now have seven locations over 3 days.
This year so far has proved to keep the trend going. During day one of Help Portrait Milwaukee we were an amazing shelter in Milwaukee called Repairers of the Breach, and then followed by a community food hall by the name of St. Ben’s the moore. These two places are truly instrumental to helping people get back on their feet. Repairers of the breach offers a warm place to hang out and also new clothes to those who are in need, St. Bens serves a community meal 5 days a week to as many as 400 people at a time. Truly amazing places.
With our amazing volunteers this year we were able to provide hair/makeup services to anyone that would like it, a professional photograph, an 8×10 printed photo along with a 4×6 photo with a holiday card.
Here are a few photos from the first day. Please take a look and see how one photograph can really change someone’s life.
Also please check out some of the local media coverage of the event here
http://www.wisn.com/video/29965581/detail.html
If you would like to volunteer of find out ways to help.. please feel free to email robg@helpportraitmke.com
Help-Portrait Milwaukee managed to get some local press in the Patch article Fox Point Man Steps Behind The Camera For Families In Need.
There’s also this article, Creating a Lasting Image, about founder, Jeremy Cowart, that appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
And finally, this blurb on Photojojo emphasizes how important a portrait can be to someone in need.
Tomorrow starts the Big Weekend. Appropriately timed, seeing as how we are approaching the giving season.
Here is where Help-Portrait Milwaukee is giving this year:
Friday
Repairers of the Breech :: St. Ben’s
Saturday
Meta House :: Pathfinders
Sunday
St. Ann’s :: Hope House :: Mercy House
Its still not too late to help, though! We are looking for a make up artist to help at Meta House on Saturday, from 12:30-5. We have the supplies. We just need *you*.
While all of our time is donated, we still have to cover the cost of consumable. This year, we are hoping to reach over 500 people. So as always, donations are welcome.
source
As a part of the larger project this December, we are also doing a clothing drive for Repairers of the Breach, a Milwaukee grassroots homeless outreach and provider of the area’s only daytime shelter and resource center for homeless people.
Every year so far, we have individually donated to the charities we serve, but this year we are hoping to make it even better. So we are asking for your help. We have chosen to give clothing items to Repairers of the Breach.
Here is what they need the most:
- men and women: socks
- L/XL long sleeved t-shirts
- L/Xl jackets
- sleeping bags and blankets
If you would like to help, please visit our Facebook page or contact us via the form at the bottom of the website.
Its all systems go for 2011! The dates are set for the weekend of December 9-11. So far, our confirmed sites include St. Ben’s, Repairers of the Breach, Meta House, Pathfinders, Hope House, St. Anne’s Center, and Mercy House.
We’re always looking for help. How can you help? Many different ways, my friend. Many ways. We need volunteers the day of the event. Each site requires a team lead, photographer, a person to print the photographs, and an assistant for admin type duties. Additionally, some sites require child-wranglers. We also need hair and make-up people (licensed cosmetologists) for each site who are willing to donate their services.
If you’d like to donate your services, please contact us at matt@helpportraitmke.com or join our Facebook group.
Supplies. Help-Portrait Milwaukee needs supplies. We need Epson printer paper (3 stars and up), size 4×6. We also need Epson ink, 98 or 99 series. We’re also looking for make-up donations (if you sell products like Mary Kay, Arbonne, or other similar product, your one time use make-up samples are perfect for us!!) You will be sent a tax-deductible receipt for any in-kind donations.
Donations. Online donations can be made at https://help-portrait.donortools.com/my/funds/43801-Help-Portrait-Milwaukee-Wisconsin You will be sent a tax-deductible receipt.
Alrighty folks, another meeting has come and gone. I will type up a blog post later. I have a few cool things to write about be it is way to late to do so right now.
So instead enjoy some fantastic photos that we took for the site and for everyone to see who is behind this wonderful cause!
Enjoy
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to check out the blog.
Last night (10.28.2010) we had another get together to hash out some details and figure out the state of where we are currently at.
We have a comprehensive list of locations that we will be setting up at, I will post those locations as they become final in the up coming days/weeks.
During the meeting we were also able to figure out what we need in terms of donations and volunteers. At each site we will need approx 5 people with specific roles and duties to keep things running smoothly.
The positions and duties are as follows:
Team Lead
Responsible for the over all happenings of the site. Managing other team members and making sure everything runs smoothly.
Admin
Responsible for making sure releases are signed and information that is needed is gathered and filled out correctly
Responsible for the flow of the line and making sure the in and out process runs smoothly
Photographers (Two per location)
Photograph clients and provide the images on flash memory to be printed
Printer
Responsible for taking images on flash memory and using the provided printers to print and deliver images to the clients
Needed Donations
Ink (Epson 99 or 98 cartridges )
Paper (8x10in or 4x6in )
Frames (8x10in or 4x6in )
Blankets & sleeping bags ( For donation to the shelters)
Cash ( To buy supplies – A cash donation would not be able to be written off as a charitable donation because we are not officially a non profit organization at this time)
If you would be interested in participating or donating please send an email to RobG@HelpPortraitMKE.com
Also don’t forget to “Like” us on face book!
Help Portrait Milwaukee’s first organizational meeting will be held 10.14.2010 at the Starbucks located on 124th and Capitol in Wauwatosa at 7:30pm
We will be discussing a whole boat load of items from locations (Yes multiple locations), fund raising, marketing, clients, and etc.
If you would like to join please feel free to show up and see what its all about. Meet some new people, gab about cameras, have a tasty drink, and help a cause dedicated to making people smile
If you have any questions please feel free to email me at RobG@HelpPortraitMKE.com
All the best,
Rob
by Rob
no comments
add a comment link to this post email a friend