Christina McCall Photography | Athens Canton Kaufman and Tyler Texas Family, Children, and Senior Portraiture Photography

On Valentine’s Day I joined a number of friends and family members of Kevin Till to commemorate the beginning of a lasting legacy in his memory, the Kevin Till Memorial Rodeo Scholarship endowment at Trinity Valley Community College. Last fall I had the privilege of capturing Kevin and his family together just prior to his passing (posts are here, here, and here).

Here’s a few images from that afternoon …

If you would like to contribute to the Kevin Till Memorial Rodeo Scholarship fund, contact the TVCC Foundation at 903.670.2664.

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On the 22nd, I joined in with 70+ other photographers worldwide to help spur the relief effort donations for Haiti as a participant in Helping Hearts. The deadline to forward documentation for a chance to win a complementary session and a disc of 15 high resolution digital files was Saturday night. Only a few entries were received … and the random generator chose … Dave & Amanda as the winners. Congrats guys — check your inbox and confirm that the 13th will work so I can notify Tara Winery as well.

Thanks again to the few who donated to the relief efforts in Haiti and to Tara Winery for access to the session location.

To book a portraiture session with Christina, contact us via email at christina@christinamccall.com or call 903.477.9069 today.

Over the past week and a half, I’ve contemplated at least a half dozen ideas, debated donating artwork for fundraising, and a few other group efforts to help raise money for the Haiti relief efforts in addition to my own donations. Then — this morning, a fellow photographer and constant inspiration of mine, Michele Anderson of Pinkletoes Photography announced the launch of Helping Hearts.

With Michele’s & Lyndsay’s basic plan in mind but some location and date differences — here’s how all of you can help the people of Haiti and get a sweet Valentine’s treat from CMP for yourselves …

Here’s the deal:

You and your sweetheart could win a romantic photo session to take place on Saturday, February 13th at Tara Winery!

• This session will be photographed by CMP (aka me) & will be held on Saturday, February 13th at Tara Winery — located just outside of Athens (thanks so much to Patrick & Susan Pierce for their generosity!).
• Session is for up to 2 adults and will last between 60 and 90 minutes.
  Updated to add: by popular request, yes, this can be a senior/adult individual session too.
• Winner will also receive 15 fully processed, high resolution images on CD. Print to your heart’s content!
• Value of session and digital files (if purchased a la carte): $1,650.

How to win:

• Make a MINIMUM donation of $10 to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund, Doctors Without Borders, Compassion International, the Humane Society of the United States’ Haiti Relief Fund for Animals, or Hope for Haiti Now.
• All donations MUST be made between Friday, January 22nd and Saturday, January 30th to qualify.
• Forward a copy of your receipt(s) to christina@christinamccall.com. Screenshots of receipts w/ confidential info blacked out is okay — I won’t be keeping these emails other than to record your name and email address — as soon as I copy and paste those two pieces of info into my contest entry file, the emails are deleted permanently.
• All entries must be RECEIVED by midnight (Central time) on Saturday, January 30th.
• Winner will be drawn at random and announced on the blog on February 1st.
• This will give you nearly two weeks to shop and find a babysitter, if need be.
• You can enter as many times as you’d like, but each entry must be the minimum $10 donation.

Other details:

• Session participants must sign a model release.
• Session must be held at Tara Winery on Saturday, February 13th.
• If the winner does not claim his/her prize by Thursday, February 4th or cannot claim the prize, then another winner will be randomly drawn.

But wait! There’s more!

If you are a photographer and would like to hold your own Helping Hearts event to help Haiti, please contact Michele ASAP so she can send you everything you need to get started!

The fine print: This giveaway is not sponsored or promoted by the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Compassion International, the Humane Society of the United States, or Hope for Haiti Now.

All images found via Yahoo News — Associated Press & Reuters, copyrighted their respective creators/agencies

In lieu of what would have been this week’s post, instead of creating a promotion and donation proceeds to the relief effort, I decided instead to share links to organizations assisting with relief efforts in Haiti after the earthquake that devastated the country this week. Please give what you can afford to spare to help the people of Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere … a country where people live on $2.00 or less per day, have an 80% illiteracy rate, and lack so many of the things we take for granted. Many of these links came directly from either WFAA Channel 8, abcnews.com or from charitable organizations I am on the mailing lists of. And whether or not you’re able to give right now, pray and send positive thoughts to all those trapped or injuried, the families who’ve lost loved ones, and for the rescue and relief workers. They can use every single prayer and positive thought possible right now.

American Red Cross

Feed the Children

UNICEF

Operation USA

Oxfam

Mercy Corps

Salvation Army

Doctors Without Borders

Interaction.org also has a list of charities as well, including many faith-based organizations.

A few weeks ago I announced the Giving is Awesome portraiture giveaway (details here) … and several nominations were received. Over the past couple of days, I along with a couple of elves agonized over which nominee to gift this custom portraiture session to … and this nomination was the one that kept tugging at us …

I recieved word from the chamber that you were offering a photo package to someone that could never afford such a blessing, so here is my nomination..

A wonderful young lady named Susan works at Classy Cuts (on south Hwy 19) is very deserving. On December 1st my wife needed her hair cut since she had just had her very first chemo treatment for breast cancer and was told she should have it cut short immediately in order to reduce the trauma of watching long her fall out. We had never step foot into Classy Cut before or ever met Susan before, but when it came time to pay she refused payment and offered her best wishes for my wife’s cancer cure.

During our time there we learned that she is 25 years old and has two precious children. It was also obvious that she had very little money and while I am sure she could see we had plenty of financial means to pay, she wanted to bless someone with cancer with the only gift she could give.

Please return the blessing to this very wonderful young lady. She certainly touched our hearts at a time needed most in our lives.

Thank you for your consideration,

Richard R

Congratulations Susan! And thank you Richard for helping us pay it forward this holiday season — we hope and pray your wife’s battle with breast cancer is successful as well.