Earlier this year I was honored to be contacted by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to do some photography for their program and signage for their annual fundraiser Gala. This is a huge event by the Kansas City chapter of the JDRF to raise money to find a cure for type 1 diabetes.

“Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food. T1D affects children and adults, and lasts a lifetime.
Type 1 diabetes affects as many as 3 million people in the U.S. alone. Every year, more than 30,000 new cases of type 1 diabetes are diagnosed; that’s 80 people per day. 15,000 are children; 15,000 are adults.” – KC JDRF website.

It was a learning experience for me. I got a better understanding of type 1 and how much it affects the lives of the people who have it.

This year the theme for their gala was the “Pan Am” theme. It was such a fun shoot! We got to do the shoot at the Downtown Kansas City Aiport. We were able to use some of the old planes in the museum and even a big one out in the parking lot! Below are a few scans from the book so you can see some of the images I took for it.

I love the different volunteer opportunities I am offered. I love learning and giving back to my community.

Last week I went to go visit some kids that I teach at the The Hope Center. It is really fun to walk through their neighborhood and see where they live, meet their friends, family and just get a chance to hang out with them. These are such amazing kids and they are a big blessing in my life! It was so fun to take my camera down there, I abosolutely love photographing children!

Gotta love the kids and their goofy faces!

If you read nothing else in this post go to Hope Center Slideshow

As a lot of you know I volunteer as a Bible study teacher at The Hope Center down in the inner city of Kansas City, Mo. The Hope Center is an organization that reaches out to the youth in the inner city to “build world class Christian leaders”. If you would like to learn more about them go to Hope Center Website.

Last night I finished my first year there! I went into this year thinking I was going to teach these kids and help them out, I never would have thought that they would have taught me more than I could have ever taught them! It’s overwhelming the amount of difficult situations these kids have faced in their lives, I am so proud of all of them for their strengh and determination! I am so excited to build deeper relationships with the kids in my class. They are true gifts in my life! At the Hope Center we are getting ready for our year end awards ceremony. This is a really big deal for the kids, I am exctied to see my kids receive their awards for all their hard work. Today I put together a slideshow for the ceremony. Go check it out!
Hope Center Slideshow