Spring Charity

April 08, 2013  •  Leave a Comment

I know it's been a while but as with most people I'm sure, I simply got busy. For me, the end of December until Mid-February is usually my slow season, dedicated mostly to scheduling weddings. This year however the studio work kept coming at a regular pace and I had a couple winter weddings as well. In the midst of that I signed on for something called the Olivia Act, which was the donation of a photo session to a deserving family in honor of the Sandy Hook school shooting victims. Now, it seems, this spring is all about charity.

Starting in the beginning of March and continuing until April 13th, I had been donating $10 for every photo shoot to the March of Dimes. This is a group near and dear to our hearts, as we have had a still born, a child die in preterm labor and our youngest son was born 10 weeks early. As of right now, I have amassed $80 for the March of Dimes solely due to photo sessions, which is not bad considering my limited schedule. This was actually something I participated in last year as well.

But it doesn't end there. Starting April 14th I will be re-allocating the $10 for each session to the Relay for Life. I decided to extend my cahrity efforts to the Relay this year after my family was deeply affected by cancer the past few years, having lost my dad's two brothers and watching my father-in-law fight his own. My father-in-laws has been particularly hard because it is a type of cancer that despite now being in remission, has a high rate of reccurance and does a massive amount of damage to the body. Even now he is down at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester to recieve a Stem Cell transplant only to end up discovering even more ways the cancer ravaged his bones.

So why do all this? Why donate away so much of what I make? Because this business was never about money. Actually, my husband tells me I'm a horrible business woman frequently. The business pays for itself and for a few random extra things for the family. It has never been about making buckets of money, if that was the case, I would raise my rates. The true point behind this for me was that I would get to continue do something I love, get to share that love with other people, and use the money and skills to support any cause I felt like. If anyone really sat down and figured out how much my time is worth per hour, I know most people would charge far more than I (like I said, bad businesswoman) but I just don't work that way. I'm blessed I get to do what I want (and have a very tolerant husband that allows it) so I'm goign to embrace it for as long as I am able.

 

Someone told me recently I'm a budding philanthropist. I replied, "Call it whatever you want, I just like taking pictures."


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