My friend and former UCSC colleague Stacey works for the Homeless Services Center in Santa Cruz, a place that provides crucial assistance to many families and individuals in this area. You can visit their website by clicking here. Last October she got in touch with me to ask if I’d be willing to take some photos for various purposes. This included getting one photo of a donor and a family to be made into a promotional banner on the side of the Rebele Family Shelter building. I was thrilled to be asked, and happy to volunteer for a cause I believe in very strongly.

If you care about this cause too, and you have time, energy, talent, and/or money to offer in support of homeless individuals and families, there are many ways to help. Here’s a link to the Homeless Services Center “How to Help” page. You can also check out their blog for upcoming events and opportunities.

The next big event: United Way is bringing the highly successful Project Homeless Connect to Santa Cruz. It’s a one day community-wide event that provides housing, support, and quality of life resources to homeless individuals in the community. It happens on March 30, and you can learn more by clicking here.

And now, about the photos. We had to do the shoot twice to get one picture in which everyone was in focus. (This was entirely the fault of the photographer.) Fortunately, the family and the donor were all very patient and easy to work with. The final choice was the last photo below- for the banner, their designer worked some Photoshop magic to erase the background and make the photo look good in a very large size. You’ll also see some photos from a third shoot, meant to be used for newspaper ads encouraging people to give to the Homeless Services Center during the holiday season.

I really enjoyed taking these photos, and having the chance to meet these families, especially the kids. And I was very impressed with the Rebele Family Shelter itself, where staff members and volunteers put an enormous amount of work and love into helping families during important times of transition in their lives. If they ask for photographic assistance again, this Red Bat will definitely say yes.