CHARLOTTE, NC – Gift for a Child/Heart Gallery Southeast will partner with professional photographers, and local businesses for a special photography show and reception this weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Heart Gallery features 60 professionally produced photographs of children available for adoption. The exhibit is a collaborative effort of 13 volunteer professional photographers from the area, Wachovia, WSOC-TV, WAXN, Elavon Financial Services, Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services, Just Fresh Restaurants, St. John Photography, White House Custom Color, Eye Dialogue Lighting, Diamonds and Pearl Entertainment, Trizon Films, and Gift for a Child/Heart Gallery Southeast.
The exhibit of children from Mecklenburg County debuts at the Wachovia Atrium, Saturday, August 16. A reception featuring entertainment and refreshments will take place that night beginning at 6PM. The event will be co-hosted by WSOC-TV news anchor Brigida Mack and Gift for a Child, executive director Rene Gunn. During the event, FranklinCovey Global Marketing Executive Sam Bracken will share about his experience as a 15 year old homeless youth and the individuals who helped change his life. “Mentors helped me become self aware and have the vision to look beyond the abusive world I’d grown up in, “ says Bracken. “Never underestimate the power one caring individual can have in a child’s life.”
Both the photography exhibit and reception are free to the public and will showcase foster and adoptive youngsters in a presentation designed to help remove the stigma surrounding these children. Individuals attending the exhibit can see the individuality and special beauty of each child. Currently there are more than 1,200 children in Mecklenburg County’s foster care system. Many of the children pictured are among those available for adoption through the County Child and Welfare Services.
"These photographs do more than capture the physical appearance of a child. They capture their inner beauty and desire to connect with their forever family," said Pamela Joseph, Gift for a Child board chairman. "Without the support of photographers and the business community, the Heart Gallery would not be possible. The Heart Gallery is an innovative approach to community outreach, and a unique opportunity for individuals to learn more about the needs of children in the foster care system as well as the adoption process.”
Much of the Heart Gallery’s support is derived from donations and volunteer efforts. White House Custom Color, a professional photography lab, donated considerable funds to print the final gallery images. Other local businesses such as Just Fresh Restaurants will donate food and beverages for the event, and an entertainer and foster youth, will offer special performances. Additionally, Elavon Financial Services hosted a Golf Tournament that helped raise funds to help Gift for a Child organize six major Heart Gallery events benefiting foster youth over the last year
About Gift For A Child, Inc.
Gift for a Child Inc. is a non-profit organization focused on raising awareness and finding permanent homes for children in foster care needing a family, a home and a future. The organization works with child welfare agencies, businesses, schools and churches to bring the community closer to the reality that there are thousands of children who need help finding a family they can call their own. For more information, go to www.giftforachild.org.
About The Heart Gallery Southeast
The Heart Gallery Southeast is an adoption recruitment program of Gift for a Child, Inc. designed to raise awareness and educate the community concerning the urgent need for foster and adoptive families, especially boys and girls for whom finding forever families is more difficult: sibling groups, special needs, minority and older children.
