Posts tagged #GivingEveryday
#GivingTuesday - Jennifer Gowers

I think she might be the hardest working person in the entire event industry.  She (and her team, as she will quickly point out) manage multiple venues while being a huge advocate of Birmingham.  It is not uncommon for Jennifer Gowers of GoPro Event Solutions to go home at 2 in the early morning and be back at it by 6:00 a.m. 

In between all of that, Jennifer is constantly volunteering her services for a wide range of missions.  From finding homes for dogs (including serving with the Greater Birmingham Humane Society) to helping with the homeless in Birmingham (working with the Jimmie Hale Mission and countless others), she works tirelessly 7 days a week.  

She is the current board chair for Pathways, which is a Birmingham organization that serves homeless woman and children. Not only do the people at Pathways give these women a place to live, but also teach them life skills so they can transition into other housing. It really is a one of a kind organization.  

Remember how the purpose of this blog series was about #GivingTuesday being #GivingEveryday?  Well, she is a wonderful example of that.  Hats off to you, lady!

Main Street Productions will become Cinepear in January 2016.

 

#GivingTuesday - Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

(#GivingTuesday is part of a weekly series of blog posts highlight Birmingham wedding vendors that use their time and talents to serve others. Those that go over and beyond so that #GivingTuesday becomes #GivingEveryday.)

"My Child Existed"

There are many photographers, nationwide, that volunteer for Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. NILMDTS offers "the gift of remembrance" to parents who have just recently lost their newborn baby.  The photographers are contacted by the hospital so that they can serve a family in the most difficult time. 

In the Birmingham area, we have (at least) two photographers that give so selflessly of themselves that they have been volunteering with NILMDTS for 7 years.  Butch and Joy Oglesby (Blue Moon Studios), not only are fantastic wedding photographers, but they also make beautiful images of recently passed infants so that the parents can have priceless professional pictures of their baby forever - pictures without tubes or wires or anything like that - just pictures of the parents loving their baby.    

"It is a hard thing to do sometimes, but always rewarding because we can give the family something to remember their child. One mother told me it says "my child existed."  We were photographing an event downtown and a young woman approached us and said "you don't remember me but, you photographed by child that passed away two years ago, and as she cried she told us how much the photos we took meant to her and her family......that makes it worthwhile." - Joy Oglesby

NOTE: Butch and Joy will be hosting Artists on the Bluff from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon TODAY!!!!! Go check out what they have plus the other artists in the old Bluff Park Elementary School.

Main Street Productions will become Cinepear in January 2016.