The following was written by Michael Moore, a FamilyWorks supporter who utilized his talent and vocation to raise awareness and funds for FamilyWorks. We at FamilyWorks are honored by supporters like Michael who have partnered with us by sharing their time and skills in order to create a more vibrant and resilient community for everyone.
In October, 2015 I was approached by ROMP, a play space for children in the Bellevue/Redmond area, about shooting family portraits for some of their members to use as part of each family’s holiday correspondence. ROMP offered a shooting fee for taking the photographs. I have known about FamilyWorks for many years through my friendship with Jake Weber, their Executive Director, and it occurred to me that the fees generated photographing the ROMP families could be used to assist FamilyWorks in supporting their client families. So I suggested that the ROMP families donate any shooting fees to FamilyWorks in lieu of paying me.
I have made a project out of using photography as a tool to raise awareness of and funds for nonprofits whose work I support.
We picked a Saturday in mid-November to shoot the photographs, and allocated about 45 minutes to each family to allow for setup, photography, and a little transition in between. We ended up photographing 9 families, each of whom made a donation to FamilyWorks. I have made a project out of using photography as a tool to raise awareness of and funds for nonprofits whose work I support. I know that even in these boom times in the Puget Sound region that there are many families struggling to make ends meet, and that FamilyWorks has a long and successful track record of connecting families with the things they need. So it seemed natural to me to connect the families I was photographing with FamilyWorks, to the benefit of both.