PPA Charities held a fun and challenging competition at their evening festivities during the most recent Imaging Convention in Nashville. ‘The Ronald’ was a spoof on Donald Trump’s successful reality show and PPA President’s Ron Nichols, along with two other judges, participated in this light hearted event. Four teams competed in two ways. One, by creating and displaying an image with a country western theme (the Judges Choice) and two by raising funds by means of votes (the People’s Choice award / $1.00 = one vote) for the PPA Charities Operation Smile campaign.
It was both an honor and a privilege to lead one team through this process. My team consisted of myself (Kay Eskridge), Lori Nordstrom and Elizabeth Homan as well as many, many photographers that helped our team through our fundraising efforts. Our team title was The Power of One and this is our story . . .
Standing as ONE, professional photographers across the country can make a difference in the lives of children all over the world through the PPA Charities Operation Smile Campaign. It is the ‘Power of One’ team’s goal to enlist the support of socially responsible photographers by sharing how the simple ‘power of one’ really is.
These are tough times for fundraising but we firmly believe that people still want to help. They just feel like the small amount they may have to give couldn’t possibly make a difference. Our campaign was designed to show them it is not true. Small amounts could count. And, that by spreading the word about the Power of One, they would become a part of a campaign that was making a dramatic difference in so many little lives. So we twittered, facebooked, blogged, emailed, e-newslettered . . . and worked tirelessly at spreading the word and asking for small amounts.
Embracing Operation Smile was the perfect fit for our campaign. What person wouldn’t want to help give a child hope for a future where they would not be ridiculed for the way they looked or spoke? What person wouldn’t want to help give a child the chance to smile?
Our message is simple . . . the power of one does count. One simple act of random kindness can make a difference. One hug, one smile, one relationship, one thoughtful gesture, person to person, generation to generation . . . the art of kindness rekindled in this simple campaign.
The image we created for ‘The Ronald’ exemplifies not only the Power of One (as in one generation passing the gift of music to another) but also this competition’s country music theme. The song we selected from the amazing team at Triple Scoop music, “Sing” by David Keen, was just the right addition to our presentation (as well as exemplifying PPA’s Campaign Smile perfectly)! The crowd loved the image and many said there wasn’t a dry eye in the house while they listened to the wonderful words of the song.The judges discussed the presentation, the votes were tallied and I am proud to announce our team, The Power of One, took the Judges Choice Award.
We were very proud of raising $2,000 in three hours. The big winner that night was the many lives that will be forever changes through PPA’s Operation Smile.A big ‘thank you’ to the team at Triple Scoop for helping us in our fundraising efforts and for a beautifully written and performed song. They say ‘a picture is worth 1,000 words’ but I think when you put music to it . . . it makes it priceless!
