Caritas of Austin

I just love D'Vaughncee's smile. Man. He's amazing.

For the past year I've had the amazing luck of partnering with Caritas of Austin on a number of their big projects in need of photos, such as their website redesign and their annual fundraiser.

Caritas of Austin serves an extremely critical role in the Austin community helping end homelessness with a multi-pronged approach. Here's their mission: 

"We build well-being by making sure that people have a safe home, access to healthy groceries, jobs that provide a reliable living wage, and educational opportunities to learn life skills."

Their impact over the past year has been nothing short of awesome:

Lindsey! My wonderful contact at Caritas.

• Helping to resettle 631 refugees from 16 different countries
• Helping to house 378 homeless families
• And, providing education for 830 people. 

In a time when 40.7% of the US voting population approve of Tr*mp(as of 2/7/2018), when the needs of the most vulnerable people are being actively neglected on a daily basis, the role that organizations like Caritas play in our communities are all the more important! And, the roles that we can play as volunteers using our unique skillsets (or our money) help further their mission and the people affected by it.

Samba in the upholstery workshop

This is where the pictures come in :) For their big fundraiser we created picture profiles of some of the people they've helped to find housing and jobs for. The people I photographed couldn't have been more wonderful!

Samba is a refugee migrating first out of Africa, then Russia, and then to the US.

Karen finally got a garden that she is just bringing to life.

D'Vaughncee is all kindness and smiles

And, Frank is working to stabilize things in his life after years on the move

Karen teaching us about the plants in her new garden

As you can see, in this post I've added several of my favorite pictures. I'm sorry that the pictures seem to go on forever it's just so clear how awesome these people are, how important Caritas is, and how truly negligent it is for our elected officials to refuse to empathize and understand that: we all have the same needs; that we are all the product of our opportunities and experiences; that race, income, gender, and sexual orientation have a huge say in the opportunities and experiences that we're afforded; and that we need to lift up our fellow humans to decrease inequity in our communities. 

JUMP! Go ahead and jump!

Thank you so much, Caritas of Austin, for allowing me to be a part of your work! If you'd like to volunteer with Caritas of Austin you can find opportunities here. If you don't live in Austin or would like to find other volunteer opportunities, you can head over to Volunteer Match (or just email any organization with out of the blue and let them know what you're good at and how you'd like to help... that's what I did).

Have a wonderful week and make someone's day.

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HAAM - Corporate Battle of the Bands

One of HAAM's awesome bands waiting for the judges to announce their score 

HAAM stands for Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. It’s a fantastic organization that provides access to affordable health care services to support Austin's low-income and uninsured musicians. HAAM’s services fill a large hole that affects Austin’s creative residents due to a number of factors like Austin’s gentrification, rising rents and costs of living.

Each year HAAM throws a fundraiser called Corporate Battle of the Bands that raises money for programming, staffing, and health care services. I had wanted to volunteer photography for them for a while and this awesome event was the perfect time to do it!

Couple dancing the two-step

Bands are made up of employees from different companies around Austin who practice for hours and hours to perform original pieces and covers in front of a packed house at the ACL Live Moody Theater. The bands are then judged by several prominent music folks from the Austin area. This year, the judges were Omar Vallejo (bass player in the band Vallejo and founder of 512 Studios), Graham Wilkinson (local musician), and James Minor (head of the SXSW festival). The event also has super cool, music-related items that are auctioned off, e.g. ACL tickets and signed guitars.

When taking these photos I wanted to focus on the chemistry between band mates, the enthusiasm that these musicians had with each other, and the beautiful lighting that performing under the Moody Theater’s lights afforded. I also wanted to try and get intimate shots of the audience and judges reacting to the artists.

I’m really happy with the results. It's incredibly important to be reminded of the critical role that non-profits like HAAM play in our community, filling-in the gaps that are left by a healthcare system that isn’t affordable and doesn’t cover all people. I can’t wait to work with HAAM on future events!

James Minor (music manager for South by Southwest) discussing a band's performance with the other judges

Guitar player jamming hard

One of the night's MCs

Record player that was up for auction at the HAAM Corporate Battle of the Bands

One of the night's fantastic musicians waiting for her band's turn to perform

Two of the night's excellent singers

Guitar player jamming so hard and killing the fashion game

Soundboard-ers, the unsung heroes (pun intended)

Omar Vallejo judging the night's bands

Drummer getting ready for his band's performance

Graham Wilkinson judging one of the night's bands

Singer shining under the lights

Graham Wilkinson and Omar Vallejo bantering about the performance

Attendees mingling next to the taco bar

Attendees leaving HAAM's Corporate Battle of the Bands

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All photos in this blog post are available as prints. Just fill out the print request form and we will work together to get one created to fit your space and needs!

I'm also available for hire. Just fill out my contact form and we will kick off the process!

If you are an awesome non-profit or company doing good in and for the Central Texas area I’m eager to work with you! Head over to the contact page and let’s get something started!