it was magical....

by the end of the day

we were the last ones standing

~unfortunately not all of our volunteers were able to be part of the group shot~

we were "tweeted" and "facebooked" all day thanks to danny

yes

photographers

after the set up is almost done and the first families are minutes away from arriving

are dorks

our youngest volunteer

due to confidentiality, the families having their portraits taken are not made public, except by those who agree to be in the newspaper. this young couple though, who dressed up for the occasion, gave me permission to use their photo on my blog.

we called them "the rock stars" and they truly were.

this is milt.

he's in his nineties and still drives to the pantry 3 times a week to volunteer.

he came by yesterday to take photos of us.

so of course i took a few photos of him

it took a village to prepare for the last family of the day. there were 18 of them and we set up a special studio area just for them. it meant moving the lights and lots of "you here and you over this way and you need to put your shoulders back and you look marvelous"

and

then andy captured them beautifully

so

in a matter of 5 hours

we were able to bring smiles and laughter to 183 people

who came to the river food pantry yesterday

for their help-portrait photos

~

after hours of planning

the whole day came together perfectly

and

as a team

i have to say

everyone was simply amazing

~

the river food pantry

just last month

fed a record 2,424 households

and

for all of us

to be able to give the gift of free portraits to those who wanted them

was the best christmas gift

we could give to them

and

to

ourselves

~

we had 32 volunteers. some stayed the whole day. others came in and out. 15 photographers took the portraits. laughs echoed in the warehouse. smiles were everywhere. "thank you" was heard over and over again. and in case you don't believe in magical days.

they really do happen. here's the proof.