January 7, 2010

Portraits for Food

Author: Maria Diestro

During the holidays local celebrity photographer Brook Pifer came up with a creative way to join the fight against hunger.

The event was called Portraits for Food. Brooke offered to take a complimentary portrait in exchange for either a non-perishable food donation or a financial contribution made to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. Participants ended up receiving their portraits via email. 

The event took place on Thursday, December 10 in her Orlando photo studio. Promotion for the event was done via her blog and twitter account. Brook works with celebrities, commercial clients and magazines worldwide. According to her blog, they plan to do this event again next year.

We are so grateful at how involved the Central Florida community gets during the holidays. We just wanted to share an example of how one person with a camera in hand can make a difference in our community.

Below is a video recap of that day.

BEHIND THE LENS: Portraits For Food

Below are some of the portraits taken from that day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View the rest of the the portraits on her blog.

Maria Diestro
Online Services and Communications Manager

October 7, 2009

Portraits of Hunger Showcase Photos

Author: Maria Diestro

Our Portraits of Hunger Showcase took place on Wednesday, September 30 at Enzian’s Eden Bar.

It can be a bit unnerving not knowing who will actually show up to an event. Fortunately for us, the night was a huge success! Every seat at Eden Bar was taken. I got a chance to meet several of the photographers that submitted photos to our contest. I also got a chance to talk to some of the people that brought food donations. We are very thankful for the community support that we received that night.   

Note: We could not have pulled this event off without the help of Enzians’ staff. It seems so long ago when we actually talked about the event. They were truly a pleasure to work with.

Drumroll …

The 2009 Portraits of Hunger winner is G.K. Sharman for her photograph titled: Courage.

Top 3 photos were: Courage by G.K. Sharman, Loneliness by Bernard Juskie and Snack Time Smiles submitted by Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, photographer Sharon Smith.

I’d like to thank our three judges for taking the time to vote for the winning photo and for participating this year. Our Contest Judges were Sara Van Arsdel, Executive Director of Orange County History Center; Josh Garrick, Media Rep & Curator for Millenia Fine Art and Dave Krepcho, President of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

If you didn’t get a chance to attend Portraits of Hunger, below is a slideshow of all the photos that were submitted to the contest. 

If you did attend, the slideshow below has photos taken from that night. Enjoy!

Thank you again for participating in Portraits of Hunger.  We look forward to bringing this event back next year.

If you have any suggestions on ways we can make this contest better or ways that we can improve on the showcase please leave us a comment below.

Maria Diestro
Online Services and Communications Manager

September 17, 2009

14 More Days Left of Hunger Action Month

Author: Maria Diestro

I can’t believe that Hunger Action Month is halfway over.  There are only 14 more days left in September and the days are moving fast. We aim to finish the month with a bang!  Thank you for spreading the word about Hunger Action Month. If you haven’t yet, please send this ecard to all of your family and friends and encourage them to support the fight against hunger.

Portraits of Hunger Update!  Our online voting contest ends this Friday. Drumroll .. the top three photos as of 2 p.m. this afternoon are: Snack Time Smiles, Courage, Loneliness (in no particular order). Voting ends tomorrow at 5 p.m. Click here to vote! Don’t forget that you can vote more than once.  

Its time to continue with our Hunger Action Month Ways to Fight Hunger Countdown :

#13 Way to Fight Hunger: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Sony Pictures new movie “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” is helping raise awareness about domestic hunger with children and their parents. By becoming a Hunger Helper like the characters in the movie,  kids learn about hunger and how they can make a difference in their community.  Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs hits theaters this Friday.

Feeding America has also created an area on their Web site where kids can become hunger helpers.  One feature of the site is the Food Catcher game. For every gold apple that you catch Sony will donate 1 meal to Feeding America. I have only been able to get 3 apples, I hope you can do better than me. Once you finish, you even get a certificate that you can print out with your name on it. What a creative way to get kids involved in the fight for hunger!

PSA video of Flint explaining why its fun to be a Hunger Helper:
 

#12 Way to Fight Hunger: Cheesecake Factory Drive Out Hunger Tour
During Hunger Action Month, The Cheesecake Factory will visit 30 cities in 30 days on the “Drive Out Hunger” Tour collecting soup cans in support of Feeding America and Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. David Arquette helped launch the tour in LA on September 1 (picture to the left).

 The grand finale party is going to be in Washington D.C. on September 30. We hope you get involved in this amazing campaign.

There are 3 ways that you can participate:

1. Orlando Tour Stop. The Drive Out Hunger Tour will be at the Cheesecake Factory at The Mall of Millenia on Monday, September 21 from 7 a.m til 10 p.m.  The first 500 people that bring in 2 cans of soup will get a free slice of Stefanie’s Ultimate Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake. XL106.7 will also be there providing some entertainment. Tamar Kaprelian – a former Cheesecake Factory staff member, now an accomplished singer/songwriter – will also be there.  Her hit song, “New Day” was featured on the popular MTV series “The Hills,” and is now the driving anthem behind the ‘Drive Out Hunger’ Tour. A portion of her song’s sales are going to Feeding America in September. 
 
2. You Dine, We Donate Event. Just bring 2 cans of soup when you dine on September 30th, and Cheescake Factory will donate 10% of your check to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

3. Buy Stefanie’s Ultimate Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake. When you buy a slice, Cheesecake Factory will done 25 cents to Feeding America. If you buy online, Cheesecake Factory will donate a $1.

Stop by the Drive Out Hunger Web site for full details of this campaign. Make sure to check out the map of where the bus tour is now and also the photo mosaic from photos of people at each of the stops. I hope to see you bright and early on Monday morning at the Cheesecake Factory at Millenia Mall!

Maria Diestro
Online Services and Communications Manager