**UPDATE – 12/1/2010** – I have posted the notes from our first planning meeting here. We have our volunteers set for the December 6th event, but still need people for the 16th and back-up volunteers for both dates. We also could use a portable photo printer if you have one to loan us.

**UPDATE – 11/29/2010** – Our first planning meeting will take place on Wednesday, December 1st at EVO Pizza in North Charleston. The details can be found here.

**UPDATE -11/22/2010** – We have set two dates: December 6th & 26th 2010 – please click here for the details.

Original Post – 11/16/2010:

Last year, I saw a video about the annual Help-Portrait event in Charleston. I thought it was brilliant and put a reminder in my calendar so I could remember to get involved with it this year. Help-Portrait is the brainchild of celebrity photographer Jeremy Cowart. The idea is for local photographers to organize a way to use their skill to give back to their community by volunteering time and prints for those in need.

My wife and I have been talking back in forth for a long time about how we could help kids with cancer. She regularly follows the blogs on CaringBridge.org, and get very emotionally attached to the families and their stories. Recently, one of our daughter’s classmates, Jesse, got diagnosed with Leukemia after he couldn’t walk into the state fair with his grandparents. Just the thought of a 10 year old boy not being able to make it into the fair is heartbreaking enough, and to suffer through the horror of finding out that your child has been diagnosed with cancer is something I could never even fully imagine – but it happens to the most unlikely and innocent children.

So, when I signed up for Help-Portrait in anticipation of volunteering for an event that was being run by another local photographer, I was kind of bummed that nobody had anything planned yet for this year. Then it clicked in my head. I could do it. Why not? But what to do – who could I serve for this? The answer hit me like a ton of bricks – We could do it at the MUSC Children’s Hospital and we could take holiday portraits of the families who are in similar situations as Jesse’s!

Today, my wife Amy finally got to talk to the Child Life Manager at MUSC and explained our plan. Unfortunately, the day that Help-Portrait is planned for (December 4th) is not a possibility with their schedule. However, she did say that she was really excited about the idea and that there are plenty of other days that we can do it on! So I talked it over with my wife, and we both easily agreed that the date is really unimportant – we don’t have to do it on a specific day to be part of this. The idea is to give back, not to give back on only one specific day! I’ve created a group for this MUSC Kids project on Help-Portrait.com for anybody who wants to participate with me. It’s the same idea as Help-Portrait, just on our own schedule. Anybody can help – photographers, make-up artists, hair stylists, people who can hold a light stand – anybody who wants to be a part of this is welcome! I also signed up with the existing Charleston, SC Help-Portrait Group because I plan on helping out with whatever event pops up for the 4th of December.

This is what we are going to be focusing our efforts on in the coming weeks, so please, sign up at the Help-Portrait community site and get involved! Lets make this happen together, it will be fun and you will make someone’s day a bit brighter.