This past week, I attended a mixer at Bernini’s in Ybor City (yummy calamari!) for the Tampa Bay Heart Gallery. For those not familiar with the Heart Gallery, it is an amazing organization that is “dedicated to increasing the number of foster and adoptive families, as well as heighten awareness for the hundreds of children needing homes in our community.” For a few years now, I donate my time and services by taking portraits of children in the foster care system who need to be adopted. These portraits are printed and displayed in a gallery that travels all over the county.
At the event this week, I was very touched and thrilled to hear that Danielle, the little girl I photographed last year was adopted! Her story is one of the most incredible stories I have ever heard. Normally, the stories and children are confidential , but since she is now adopted and her story made public, I am able to share. She was born a functioning baby and left in alone in a closet her entire life and become Emotionally Autistic. The authorities refer to her as a “feral child”. You can read the entire story here, but be ready with your tissues!
There’s also a full written article, which is very intriguing. Read it: HERE.
I really began to cry when I read this excerpt:
The day Danielle was supposed to have her picture taken for the Heart Gallery, she showed up with red Kool-Aid dribbled down her new blouse. She hadn’t yet mastered a sippy cup.
Garet White, Danielle’s care manager, scrubbed the girl’s shirt and washed her face. She brushed Danielle’s bangs from her forehead and begged the photographer to please be patient.
White stepped behind the photographer and waved at Danielle. She put her thumbs in her ears and wiggled her hands, stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes. Danielle didn’t even blink.
White was about to give up when she heard a sound she’d never heard from Danielle. The child’s eyes were still dull, apparently unseeing. But her mouth was open. She looked like she was trying to laugh.
Click.
and then to read this part, from her adopted mother about when she saw my portrait of Danielle…
She saw it. A little girl’s face on a flier, pale with sunken cheeks and dark hair chopped too short. Her brown eyes seemed to be searching for something.
Diane called Bernie over. He saw the same thing she did. “She just looked like she needed us.”
Words cannot express how I feel right now. I am blessed in many ways and I am just grateful, that I could offer my gift to help in this way. I am so overwhelmed and pleased that the Heart Gallery is so successful!
Here’s the original picture and another I really liked…
and here’s another little boy I photographed last year who found a home! You can hear some his “audio” if you watch the clip on the Heart Gallery site.
LOL!
