August 21, 2008 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Some of the kids getting their portraits taken are a little shy, requiring a parent or the photographer to coax a smile out of them. The effort is small compared with other challenges the children face: All of those photographed by Flashes of Hope, a Cleveland nonprofit group, are being treated for cancer or other potentially fatal illnesses.
Sondra Miller, executive director of the organization, tells the story of one girl who said she had hung a large portrait of herself behind her hospital bed for inspiration.
“I don’t feel beautiful,” the girl told Ms. Miller, “but every time I look at that picture, I remember that I am beautiful.”
Flashes of Hope, which operates on an annual budget of $600,000 (most of which is donated by hospitals and companies, as well as individuals), plans to open 11 new chapters this year, bringing the total to 30. The chapters, located at hospitals around the country, take photos monthly of children and teenagers who are recommended by their doctors and nurses.
This year the organization will take photos of about 3,000 kids, but Ms. Miller said it aspires to photograph every child diagnosed with cancer in the country.
The organization, founded in 2001 by a couple whose 20-month-old son was being treated for cancer in Cleveland, relies on about 300 professional photographers who volunteer their services every year.
Families gets a few prints to keep, as well as a CD of all of the pictures taken and the rights to reproduce as many copies as they want to share with family and friends.
“The kids love the pictures, but it’s even more important for the people who are supporting the children, because they see an image of a strong, courageous child, not a sick, weak child,” Ms. Miller says. “It helps their supporters see the child and not the disease.”
Here, Deborah Triplett works with a young girl to get just the right shot at the charity’s chapter in Charlotte, N.C.
