The twin toddlers, and their baby cousin propped up between them, looked like they were about to make a “crawl” for it as soon as their mothers let go. Jim Darling, our photographer, got into position. He was ready to snap the photos that everyone in the room was eager to capture. Meanwhile, their 16 other family members crowded around behind Jim and began to make faces, calling the babies’ names, and jumping up and down–anything to hold the babies’ attentions for a few seconds. Finally, after multiple attempts, the prized photo was finally captured!
This moment was made possible by the first Family Portrait Day held at LIFT’s DC office since 2011. Our Members put in a lot of strong effort as they work toward achieving their goals, and their commitment to create a better life for themselves and their families is an inspiration to all of us at LIFT. We had to organize an event to show them how much we appreciate them. To ensure that more of our Members could attend, we held the event on a Friday, at our LIFT office at the Perry Community School Center in Ward 6, and on Saturday at The Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Center (THEARC), in Ward 8.
At these two events, 34 Members and their loved ones came out to take professional portraits, some of them for the first time in years. In fact, one Member told our staff that this was an answer to her prayers. She had been trying to get a family portrait done for a long time, but the interest, availability, and funds were never available before.
All attendees were also presented with Goody Bags, and had a chance to partake in fun art activities. There was even a survey Members took after getting their portraits taken that gauged their experience with LIFT. One member stated that we had “Saks 5th Avenue service.”
We were so happy we could plan and carry out this service for our Members, and we hope to continue hosting similar Member-focused events in the future. Special thanks goes to the awesome support from David Guyre at Rings Leighton Design Group who provided the Photography at Perry, Jim Darling who provided the Photography at THEARC, Walker & Dunlop who sent three great volunteers our way, and all the LIFT-DC staff who made this event possible.