Project 2 - In Real Life
In 2012, I found a website where you can sign up to be notified about events in need of volunteers so you can get matched up with opportunities to give your time and talents in ways you're most interested in. Since I was already fairly well-immersed in other other volunteering ways through my church at the time, the only box I checked was PHOTOGRAPHY. Within a few months, I received an email from someone at the Asheville City Schools Foundation about an opportunity to help with something called In Real Life. IRL is an after-school program run mostly by volunteers to offer children who don't have other parental/guardian involvement in those hours between when school gets out and when most parents and guardians are home from work. Many of these kids are limited in options of places to go for 1) safety and 2) stimulation and 3) healthy community so this program is fantastic in terms of keeping kids engaged in learning and nurturing relationships and connecting with adults who aren't their teachers and who know how to do cool stuff!
I photographed a variety of activities - rock climbing, Dungeons & Dragons tutorials, cooking, video game programming - and they used those photos on social media to help reach and expand their audience and draw kids to what their doing. I absolutely adore what this program does and truly feel like these kids LOVED what they were doing.