Family Portrait Month Details

What is Family Portrait Month?
Family Portrait Month, sponsored by Marathon and PPA (held by PPA Charities), is a national fundraising effort to benefit Operation Smile, which helps children around the world who suffer with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities.

During Family Portrait Month (October), participating studios pledge to donate a portion of each October Family Portrait Month sale to PPA Charities for Operation Smile. The session could be family, children, high school seniors, or any type of portrait.

Why should you participate?
By participating in this cause-related marketing promotion, you will attract new clients into your studio, encourage return business, and (most of all) help children who are affected by facial deformities.

Additional reasons to participate:

• Any studio that collects $500 or more for Operation Smile in 2008 is eligible for a cash drawing of $500 (at the PPA Charities 2009 Celebration Event on January 10, 2009, at the Imaging USA convention in Phoenix, Arizona).
• The 2008 top studio fund-raiser will receive the chance to photograph an Operation Smile medical mission (also announced at the PPA Charities 2009 Celebration Event at Imaging USA 2009).

Important Note: To be eligible for the cash drawing and the Operation Smile mission, your donations must be received by December 1, 2008.

How does it work?
Simply sign up to participate (with a minimum $25 donation), and your studio will be listed on www.familyportraitmonth.com and www.operationsmile.org. Everything you need to make this promotion successful is provided online, developed by professional photographers and Marathon Press. Once you register to participate (and donate the minimum $25), you will receive access to downloadable templates, logos, and other information that will give you ideas for promoting Family Portrait Month!

Who’s sponsoring it?
Family Portrait Month is held by PPA Charities, a fully functioning philanthropic arm of Professional Photographers of America (PPA). PPA Charities’ charitable partner is Operation Smile, a worldwide children's medical charity whose thousands of medical volunteers treat children and young adults suffering with facial deformities. Marathon Press is also sponsoring Family Portrait Month.

All donations to PPA Charities will benefit the cause of Operation Smile.

For more information
To find out more about Family Portrait Month and how you can help the children of Operation Smile: go to www.ppacharities.com or www.familyportraitmonth.com, call Bert at (708) 267-0657, or e-mail bbehnke@ppa.com.

PPA Charities' Celebration Event

Mark your calendar now to attend the PPA Charities’ Celebration the evening of January 10, 2009, in Phoenix…before Imaging USA officially starts.

The celebration event features fun, fellowship and food. Once again, the silent and live auctions will raise some funds (and provide fun!). And keep tuned to learn who the special VIP guest is this time!

Help Create a Smile

Can you think of anything more enchanting than a child’s smile? During October this year, participating member studios of Professional Photographers of America (PPA) join together for Family Portrait Month to help make children’s smiles more hopeful. Family Portrait Month, sponsored by Marathon and PPA (and held by PPA Charities), is a national fundraising effort to benefit Operation Smile, which helps children around the world who suffer with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities.

Operation Smile is a worldwide children's medical charity dedicated to helping children and young adults born with facial deformities. In as little as 45 minutes, one cleft lip surgery can change a child’s life forever.

In April 2008, Terry Farmer, a participant in Family Portrait Month, was able to travel to Bolivia with Operation Smile. “Each surgery completed through Operation Smile struck me as a small miracle in a city and for a people whose lives had lacked many positive, life-changing experiences,” says Farmer.

Participating photographers like Farmer will pledge to contribute a portion of each October Family Portrait Month sale to PPA Charities, whose charitable partner is Operation Smile.

Through this fundraising effort, photographers and families can help create smiles for children who would otherwise face a lifetime of pain and rejection.

A Mission of Love, Care, & Healing

A look at Angela Weedon's 2007 Operation Smile mission trip to Honduras

By Angela Weedon of Angela Weedon Photography in Texas

The shock of seeing my brother’s firstborn baby with a cleft lip wore off right away. After all, we live in America, they had insurance, and he could eat just fine. He would have no problems: wait 3 months, have reconstructive plastic surgery, and it would be water under the bridge. The only reminder of Conner’s deformity today—seven years later—is a tiny scar, and we even need to study his little mouth closely to see it.

Had my nephew been born in a developing country, however, his story would likely have been much different. Children born with cleft lips or palates (or a combination of the two) can suffer a lifetime of hardships from malnutrition (due to eating difficulties) to severe speech problems and being completely ostracized by the community. After Conner was born, I did a lot of research on the subject of clefts…and the more I learned, the more I was thankful for all the resources we have that we perhaps take for granted.

Operation Smile has naturally been very close to my and my family’s hearts for years. This amazing organization sends qualified doctors, nurses and support personnel to dozens of developing countries around the world with the sole purpose of bringing smiles to children born in need of them. Since 1982, in addition to performing surgeries on over 100,000 deserving children and young adults, Operation Smile volunteers have also trained thousands of healthcare professionals globally. For only $240, Operation Smile can change a child’s life by giving the gift of a surgery. 

Operation Smile, Bolivia

A look at Terry Farmer's April 2008 Operation Smile Mission Trip

By Terry Farmer, Terry Farmer Photography, Springfield, ILL

In the sultry heat of a Bolivian fall, hundreds of prospective patients and their families greeted the 40 medical and non-medical volunteers at Hospital Japones in Santa Cruz. They came hoping for surgery to change their lives through Operation Smile.

Throughout the chaos that accompanies a mass gathering of people was order born of experience—eleven such Operation Smile missions to Bolivia and dozens in other countries.    

Indelible images were everywhere: a grade-school girl with the ready smile, thick dark braids…and the horrifically deformed nose; infants with cleft palettes sucking on bottles; a preteen boy who had known a lifetime of stares and snickers. Each brought an individual story and all were related by the cruel hoaxes of their birth defects.

A Challenge to All PPA Affiliates: Hold an Auction

A challenge has been issued: The members of Virginia Professional Photographers Association (VPPA) challenge each and every other state organization to do hold a photographers auction or similar event during state seminars and conventions. The time commitment is minimal, the fun is boundless and the change that can be made is endless. It’s true…they raised over $7,000 in less than 45 minutes!

It began February 29, 2008, when the VPPA gathered in Portsmouth, Virginia, for their annual membership brunch, during which they held a photographers’ auction (all of the proceeds benefit PPA Charities this year).

Seven local studios volunteered to be auctioned off at the brunch. Each studio agreed to be a mentor for the winning bidder: they would spend one day with the winning bidder at their studio, or the winner could come and visit the mentor’s studio. This decision was completely up to the winner, although the date had to be mutually agreed upon.

Not to Be Outdone…

Hats off to Texas School Director Don Dickson, who put his hair on the line at the School’s final night party. Don volunteered his head to be shaved for a $5,000 donation to PPA Charities. The nearly 1,000 students in attendance quickly met the challenge, and Don’s hair was history (thanks to the stylish efforts of Kansas photographer and former salon stylist Quinn Hancock).

Virginia Professional Photographers Making a Difference!

On February 29th the VPPA (Virginia Professional Photographers Association) gathered in Portsmouth, Virginia for our annual membership brunch. This year we decided that we really wanted to make a difference and hold a photographers auction during the meal. The VPPA board agreed to let all of the proceeds benefit PPA Charities this year instead of our state scholarship fund. Our VPPA treasurer, Polly Frye, said that we had enough money this year to give away scholarships and this money would be better served helping the children through Operation Smile.

We had seven local studios volunteer to be auctioned off at the brunch. Each studio agreed that they would spend one day with the winning bidder at their studio or they could come and visit the mentor’s studio. This decision was completely up to the winning bidder. The date for the meeting had to be mutually agreed upon by both the mentor and the winning bidder.

Bald Is Beautiful!

Nothing motivates people like a challenge. In October 2007, PPA Charities Trustee David Grupa and his good friend David Jones were presenting a program to the Twin Cities Professional Photographers of America (TCPPA). After asking the audience to support PPA Charities, he blurted out this challenge: “If you can put $500 on the table before the end of the night, I will let you shave my head at the next meeting!”

Dave left the meeting with his hair intact, but TCPPA President Mark Kiefer called a few days later, asking “How serious were you about the offer to shave your head?” They chatted about ways to raise money and came up with an idea: Since there are no entry fees on the TCPPA level, members entering the November print competition were challenged to donate $25 per case to PPA Charities. At that rate, 30 cases would bring $750. If that goal was reached, Dave’s previous offer would stand.

Thank You (from PPA Charities)

Many photographers and vendors have extended a helping hand with PPA Charities. Along with others, we would like to thank the following people, who have so generously supported us with their time, talent, and treasure in the past year:

• PPA's Photographic Exhibitions Committee (PEC): For every entry into the International Print Competition (run by PEC), participants are offered the opportunity to donate to PPA Charities. All proceeds go to the charitable fund. Thank you to all participants who donated to PPA Charities. The Charity received over $1,400 from this year's contestants!
• Marathon Press, the PPA Board and PPA Staff:  Without their support, Family Portrait Month could not have been such a success for PPA Charities.
• Terry Farmer; Springfield, IL:  For your outstanding success with the Family Portrait Month promotion. Congratulations on winning the Operation Smile Grand Prize mission trip to Bolivia. Look for Terry’s article in our newsletter, at the Marathon Press webinar archives, and on this blog.
• To all our top donors during the 2007 Family Portrait Month:
  • Diamond Donors gave $5000 or more: Terrence Farmer – IL, Angela & Matt Weedon – TX, Doug Peninger & Rick Gibbons - NC
  • Gold Donors gave $1000 - $4999: Kathleen Walker – CA, Charlene McKay – CA, Wendy Newman – AZ, Heather Bush - LA, Chris & Dawndy Bendet – MO, Sam Puc – CO, Steele Images Studio – CO, Jenny Schomaker - AZ
  • Silver Donors gave $500 - $999: Studio 441 – NC, Ed Pedi – MA, Kirk Baxley – GA, Ultra-Spective Photography – CA, Bruce Boutet – MI, Jason Gallus – MN, Anne Grant – NC, Stacey Burke – PA, Karen Bernard – RI, Susan McKinney – TX, Corri Robinson – TX, Jamie Hayes & Mary Fisk-Taylor – VA, Renee Dabill – MN, Brandon Mulnix - MI
• To the nearly 400 PPA studios who participated in Family Portrait Month 2007 and helped us donate $52,000 to Operation Smile in January 2008.

These are but a few of the many who support PPA Charities in many, many ways.  Thank you all for your support.  We cannot continue to be successful without you!

To see the full Thank You listing (including nods to industry vendors, PPA Affiliates, and more members), please visit www.ppacharities.com/thank-you.html.