My Help-Portrait Story

After hearing about Help-Portrait more than a year ago, I know that I wanted to host an event. But, I didn’t just want to host an event, I wanted to team up with an organization or two that were already doing great work. I guess I wanted to help both individuals and an organization. A friend of mine from grad school, Ellie, works at an international organization called World Relief. They help refugees settle into life in the United States. World Relief helps thousands of refugees every year by helping them find jobs, teaching english, find housing, and adjust to everyday life in a place that is often times so different than what they are used to. I really respect the work that they do and the method they do it, so I was honored that they were willing to let me set-up at their Christmas party.
This year, Help-Portrait encouraged the photographer volunteers to encourage people to share their stories and photo online. But, since World Relief serves refugees of war and persecution, none of the clients wanted to share their stories. Even so, we had a wonderful time, spoke some Amharic, took a lot of pictures, and saw countless smiles. I can’t wait for my next Help-Portrait event. I respect the work and people of World Relief greatly. Keep up the good work!

Please visit the Help Portrait and World Relief websites for more information.

Andy Horst helped with the help-portrait event. Since none of the refugees wanted their photos to be displayed online, I put one of the test-shots in.