A couple weeks ago, this beautiful idea organically came about on a Facebook post I made to my personal profile to do an afternoon of quick half mini-mini (seriously, like 3 minutes each, it was so quick) in front of this fabulous new mural on Baltimore and 19th in downtown KC. I posted the idea to have families come down for their photo and instead of paying me, they would bring $25 gift gas or food gift cards that would be distributed to local NICU families in need through the wonderful charity, Little Warrior Princesses (founded by my good friend and one of the NICU families I photographed that was featured on the Today Show with me in 2014). The response was AMAZING! We had a WAIT LIST people, it was incredible! And even with the weather threatened to rain us out, at the last minute I asked everyone if they could come earlier and so many did! And we didn’t get rained out!
Best part is, we raised over $900 in gift cards for NICU families so they can have gas in their cars to get to the hospitals and food in their bellies when they are too stressed to eat (or going broke from eating out on the go so much when going back and forth between hospital and home every day). Dollar for dollar, these wonderful peeps will make a difference in the lives of almost 40 families facing their child’s stay in the NICU.
You guys are freaking awesome. THANK YOU!!!!
Since I’ve been asked, at this time I am not planning another fundraiser at the wall. I donated 20 hours of my time between driving, shooting, editing, and delivering these images, that’s a big commitment on my part and with sunflower season about to bloom, I just don’t have the ability to offer another date.
I’ll do another fundraiser next year!