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How to Get Involved

Lesson 2 from: Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Sandy Puc

How to Get Involved

Lesson 2 from: Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Sandy Puc

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Lesson Info

2. How to Get Involved

Lesson Info

How to Get Involved

Let's go ahead and get focused on the work Part of this. Our mission statement is to introduce the introduce Remembrance photography to parents suffering the loss of a baby with the free gift of professional portraiture. We believe these images serve as an important step in the family's healing process By honoring their child's legacy, we have several volunteer positions with the organization being a member of affiliated photographer. Being an assistant to one of the photographers coming in as a digital retouch artist and assisting the photographers with their images or being what we used to call a parent coordinator is now a community volunteer. Now it's become a photographer's assistant. A couple things you need to know that anyone entering the hospital on behalf of now I lay me down to sleep does have to be a registered photographer. On they do have are have to be a registered and affiliated photographer. You do have to go through an approval process, so keep in mind whether or not ...

you're actually photographing the session. If there's somebody out there that doesn't feel like they're ready to be a photographer, but they feel they could assist one of these sessions for that training purpose. We still do have to be an affiliated photographer, and you do have to go through the approval process. One thing to note is your name will not show up on the website as an approved photographer because we keep that only people who would be directly contacted so it will not come up on the search engine, and you will not be contacted directly for that from the hospitals. Typically, they go through the area coordinators or directly through the photographers. But a photographer's assistant is a great thing to consider if you're just starting out. Most photographers assistants are like myself in my studio from the beginning. Helen Erin there a few of a Shantel that have worked together. I tend to be the more dominant photographer, but there's always somebody with me. And even if it's your spouse or a a great friend that's willing to come hold a reflector, help you out. They do have to be affiliated with the organization and sign a B s. A. Because there are a lot of legal issues will talk about and there are some. You know, the biggest thing is by signing of the essay. You're under the protection of the organization as well as insured by the organization, which is very, very important. There's also the digital retouch we call them D R. A's and D. R. A's are heroes because we do have a lot of photographers out there that take on an enormous amount of sessions. These photographers will not say no to families, and it is. It's an incredible gift to do this. But it can be a burden if we're not careful. And that is honestly, why we're here is to share this message and to let other photographers know that we desperately need your help. No matter how many thousands of photographers we get, there are families losing babies every day. 145 babies die every day in just America alone, and the majority of those go unserved by us. And that's really sad because for us, it's not a matter of not wanting to serve. But if we don't have, the resource is if we don't have the people there to help these families, we have to turn them down and I know headquarters, even though it's part of the process every time you know, somebody has to turn to a family and say, I'm sorry, we're just not available in your area. It is just a heartbreaker. One of the other issues is photographers who take on too much. They cannot keep up with the workflow, which we'll talk about later, and we lose them as members because it's just overwhelming to them. So our digital retouch artists are photographer are artists that are willing to not only be a part of the organization, but a photographer who perhaps has done several sessions and is getting behind. We have a four week turnaround that we need to return these back to the families. They're able to upload the images and the D. R. A will actually download them. Do all of the artwork, prepare them, send them back to the photographer, and then the photographer can get it out on time. So even if you did not feel like you could photograph these sessions, if you felt like you had the skills in the art side of it, we would love to have you be a part of this organization. Your names will not show on the website because we do reserve that for photographers, but you will be linked with people who could potentially need your help and services. Um, our community volunteers again was parent coordinators. They're there to assist photographers and handling calls from the hospitals, getting to photographers dispatched to the hospitals, fundraising any kind of media outreach to the local stations, newspapers and again, the community volunteers. Their names will show on the website. One of them, like if you're a coordinator for hospital, you were there to assist the hospitals in dispatching again the calls to the photographers and trying to find a photographer for that family. And all over the area, different cities have different ways of handling those phone calls. Some get direct phone calls. I know in Colorado, and Cheryl works as a coordinator. She will receive a phone call, and then she will send out an E blast. Everybody, that's a member. And then she waits for a response from the Denver area. We probably have about 65 or six community volunteers just for that Denver area on. And that doesn't include, you know, like Colorado Springs or the north of the city or or anything like that. So yeah, our job is to, you know, handle the phone calls coming in. Dispatch the photographers to the hospitals in again. I can send out a text message to all the photographers. Aiken, send out an e blast through the computer. I even have we even have our own private Facebook page. That is for the Denver members only that we're able to assist and try to find photographers and that outreach also, and we'll talk about it later. But one of the hardest things is in any community. We have lots of photographers that are listed as active photographers. So in Denver alone, I think we have 60 or 70 active photographers. Listen, these air photographers who have agreed they become a part of now I lay me down to sleep, They've signed the TSA, and I'm very sad to say that out of those 60 to 70 photographers, we have about five or six that actually take this session. So that's one of the most frustrating parts for us, and especially for a coordinator, is they send out thes e blast people and they get virtually no response, and it is the same people that always that are very dedicated that always take the work. And, of course I know who I can call, and I know he's not gonna Who's gonna take the session? I mean, it's, you know, I know who I can talk, call and who's not gonna turn me down to take a session. So but on the other side of it, the concern of over tasking photographers, those six we could potentially lose because they're working too much. And the rial tragedy is, if the 70 photographers in Denver who have taken the time to commit to this if they would each take one session, it would probably be 3 to 4 to maybe even 6 to 8 months that they would ever have to do a session. So if more people would get involved, we would have on we can create a better sense of community. It might be that what a perfect world everybody would be assigned one day per year, and you just have to be available that one day, and it is totally possible. But we need a greater commitment from the people who have already committed. That's one of the hardest things is we have thousands of people committed but not enough people actually following through. And we understand there are extenuating circumstances and we'll cover those a little bit later. Okay, let's talk about the application process. The applications. If you're interested in becoming a member of now, I lay me down to sleep are accepted online through the now I lay me down to sleep website. We just had a brand new website rebuild. It is beautiful and we'll be talking about that a little bit later. Applicants must submit appropriate photographic work, which will be reviewed by the now I lay me down to Sleep Membership Application Committee. We call that the Mac Group. The Mac group is actually responsible for looking at the images you submit and determining whether or not you will be able to serve the families. Now, keep in mind, this is always a hot button for people because people who hear about now I lay me down to sleep are emotionally connected to it. First, no matter what your stage in photography, how good you are, how many years of experience, of course you want to serve these families, and we so appreciate that that willingness to serve. However, the Mac groups. Job is to look at the images that you produce for us and to actually determine if you're capable. If you have the skills, the skill set needed to produce this work, I can tell you one of the most important things is you need to show diversity and lighting styles. If you send a lot of pictures of kids out in the forest, you're out in the field of wheat running around. That's not going to be what you're working in. You're going to be working in very difficult lighting situations. If all of your work is natural life photography, it's not gonna happen because when you go at seven o'clock at night in the wintertime, it's pitch black in these rooms, and you need to be able to have some alternative light sources. So we do recommend that when you are sending images submitting images, you show a tely east the use of two different types of lighting styles. If it's natural and flash or natch are start strobe and flash or something that shows that you could work in any lighting situations. We'll talk about it later, but there will be situations where you walk in a hospital and there you can't turn on a light. Maybe they're not allowing flashes or they won't allow continuous light. There have been times where I've had to use. You know, the Billy Rubin lied in the bed as, and I've had to use overhead ceiling lights. Now, in my my ideal situation would be to always provide every family with what Cheryl had. I mean, I would want the control of the lighting and and all of that, But it's just not, um, it's not really an option with the way we teach this, because our goal really is to get in to be a very quiet, silent part of the moment to get in, to get out and to give these families the best of what we can. So we'll talk later about props and things and, you know, lighting equipment and what is really necessary. But but efficiency is important and understanding that if you're going to apply to be a member, you definitely need to have those skill sets. You need to show those skill sets, and that's really what we're looking for is lighting control and quality. Of course, the candidate skill set must satisfy the now I lay me down to sleep professional standards for acceptance. There are two sides to that. There's how do you handle the situation? There's also the How much experience do you have? This is unlike anything in the world. This is a session that you cannot reshoot, even a wedding. And we all have this fear of making a mistake on a wedding, even a wedding. You could do something you could You could photograph the couple. I mean, even if it was a detrimental to your studio. You still have options with these babies. There will be no other options. If for some reason you fail, you have a problem with the camera. You know your card goes bad. You're not clear on how to handle difficult lighting situation. There can't be any reshoots. And that goes back to that B s a thank heavens. Nothing bad has ever happened. We hope it never does. But if a family were upset or angry because you failed, now I lay me down to sleep, would be liable for that and again, signing that B s a assures that you would be protected under that. Otherwise, if you are not. If you have not sent via, say you potentially could be liable. We want to make sure that we're taking care of our photographers. So when you do apply, you'll pay a $10 application fee, and that is to go through the process of actually submitting the images, reviewing the images and going from there. Keep in mind, by the way, we'll talk later about staff and paid administrative service theme at Group are unpaid. These air volunteers that review your work they're not receiving this. This is this application fee is really more from the admin side from the staff side, the things that they have to do. But the people reviewing the images just like yourselves, would be volunteers there. People who really believe in what we do and serve serve completely free of charge. So our expectations of the approved applicants if you're accepted to now I lay me down to sleep. You will then pay a $25.1 annual membership fee. This has always been a concern for people they always want to know. If I'm a volunteer and I'm doing all this for free, why would I have to pay an application. Well, keep in mind, this is going to cover your insurance, your benefits and a lot of discounts that several supporters have given us. The insurance is, of course, a big piece of that. But what you really have to realize is this membership you. Now I lay me down to sleep does not have funding. Like many nonprofit organizations, one of the situations is a story that we tell, unlike other organizations that always have, that they're fighting for a happy ending there, trying to change a situation or make it better. A lot of times our story does all of the time. Our story does not have a happy ending. In all the babies that I photographed, one baby has survived and the number is unbelievable. So understand that we can't wait for donate getting donations. It's hard getting grants are hard because we're not a go fight win. You know, we do have a sad ending. In many cases, however, the other portion of our of our income that is generated is by donations, and those donations are usually in memory of and there have a child. In fact, many times I know went back when you were doing it. You could tell where a baby passed away because all of a sudden from Georgia there would be checks coming in. And we don't solicit parents. We don't ask him to, you know, fund us or anything like that. It's, you know, a lot of grant writing that we've done. You know, we do not get approved for, um So So as much as it sounds like a burden to the 25 01 is concerning for people. People have to understand that we are never going to solicit parents if they want to donate. We asked them, and but these donations can be $5. That could be $25. They can be thousands of dollars, but there's no consistency there. So do you understand that you are not only contributing your time, but you were also ensuring that this organization can continue to thrive. From the time we hired our first executive director, that was a big expense here we were taking no money. Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, we we received one donation that was very substantial from White House custom color, and we will always be grateful for that, because without that, that was the second year when we were about to fall apart. That money gave us the opportunity to hire a professional executive director, but it only gave us enough money to hire her for six months. And at that point we had to figure out things like this ways to ensure that we could keep her there if I wish everybody could tour headquarters and see how important a pain staff is. They're on the phone every hour of the day, serving families all over the world. They are managing thousands of photographers, thousands of hospitals, thousands of brief families. And it's a tremendous amount of work. So So I personally want to say that I appreciate this. If for some reason you could not pay this fee, it could be waived. But obviously my concern would be is if you if 25 01 is a huge burden, there are expenses with gas and traveling. You know, we would want to make sure that you would be able to serve the families as well, so you would pay the 25 01 And just so you know what the old one is this that no one helps flag it so that they know that it's an application fee. So that's where that penny comes from because we do get a lot of donations that are $25. Uh, at that point, you're gonna review and agree to the code of conduct, which will cover later. You're going to sign and return the volunteer service agreement. That's the V S. A. That is what gives you the coverage. We talked about that so important. And when we receive your V s a back, your now I lay me down to sleep. Account will be activated and the training manual will be mailed to you. We have a beautiful heart. It's not hard bound, but a paperback book that you will receive that is the entire training process. It gives you access to all the information that you need. It's a very nice little booklet. It is available on the website so you can get it from you can get it now. I believe, if you just want to review it, it's a great thing to have, but just a lot of photographers like to have the physical book in their camera bag, just so they have it to review A to that point, you just need to follow all of now. I lay me down to sleep. Rules and requirements. All right, code of conduct. So our code of conduct kind of basic and simple kind of professional and manner, appearance and behavior. No pick does no faces. No, I love the pigtails. You know, we do have on the forum that if you want to buy shirts with the now, I lay me down to sleep logo. You can purchase those. You can even get the logo from us and have your own embroider do it for you. But you don't have No, you don't have to. We have business cards that you're able to take and, you know, copy out and everything like that. It's definitely respect all members of the hospital staff. Um, follow all hospital rules and procedures. Some of them, you know, you will have to check in. You know, you might have to get your volunteer badge. I know some hospitals do require that if you were there as a volunteer on, and this is kind of where we have a little conflict also is that you're a volunteer for now, he let me down to sleep. You're not a volunteer for the hospital, but there are some hospitals that will require that you go through a volunteer program with them. And, you know, usually, you know, we can kind of get around that sometimes you're there as a guest of the family. You are not there as a member of the hospital. It's so important to back up your images and longer sessions with headquarters. I know that with our grant writing, we need to keep documents of how many sessions were doing. And it's hard. If not every photographer is logging in their sessions. Your images again. It's so important to back those up when you get home, when you're when you're in the car, are not not the car. But I guess you could back him up if you're you know where you leave it back to back him up. Yeah, exactly. But I know Sandy, you know, has a lot to save ever later about the workflow process of this. We'd like to say that you deliver your images to the families within four weeks. I think we'd like you to do it within a week would be I keep in mind the next morning. Yeah, yeah, keep in mind that you have the only tangible thing that this family will have for the most part, and they're desperate for it. And it's such a heartbreaker when we're hunting down photographers. 8 16 weeks later, you have a devastated family that is just broken hearted, and that's where it comes in the log in your sessions to So you know, even if you go home the next that next night or you get on your computer and you log in your session. If we're looking for that family, were able to find that family, that photographer right away, instead of trying to call all the coordinators in one town. And, well, they don't remember the photographer his name, and definitely always reply promptly to your area coordinator, whether it's through a text message or if you can't take the session just a simple Hey, I'm busy. I can't take the session instead of just kind of letting a blank space hang. You know where I don't know if you're available or are you available or not? Um, and never use your affiliation with now he let me down to sleep to promote your business in a hospital. Um, that's that's definitely a biggie right there. And be confident head high. No. Act like you know what you're doing if it even if it's the first time. All right, let's talk about reasons that you could actually lose your membership. And, sadly, this very rich it happens, but very rarely. But there are ways that you could actually be removed off of our membership list. First of all, if you violate the code of conduct, which we'll talk about later if we have a review and investigation is filed and that typically is filed by the hospital. If you've done something wrong and we can talk about what we could tell you horror stories of, you know, when we build this organization, we got hit with everything but one of the things that photographers who go in the hospital and just annoy the nurses, they stay too long. They talk, they hang out there, you know, hanging out in the nurses station, there just really becoming a nuisance. Our job is to get in to create these images and to get out of the way. These hospitals are very busy places, and that's really problem. As Cheryl said, soliciting your business, it's not appropriate to stand there and hand out your own business cards. We do recommend you don't have to what we recommend that you get now. I lay me down to sleep business cards and give them Teoh. You know the families that you served, but let's say you walked out of the room and a nurse pulled you aside and said, I love what you do. I would love to have you take my family's pictures. It's not that you're soliciting business, obviously, and what I would do in that situation is maybe hand my own business card and say, You know, it's not appropriate to talk about this year, but if you want to call me later, feel free to do so, So I don't want you to say no, don't talk to me. You know, I wanted to be something where you understand that there is an appropriate time for that and I do believe that people who do this kind of work should be blessed, and if something comes out of it, we don't want you to feel like you cannot associate with it. But it's not appropriate in the hospital at any time to be soliciting your work, your business, talking about your work, showing your folio to somebody just because you want them to know you're capable. We truly need to keep this to now. I lay me down to sleep as's faras, and that is probably one of the bigger reasons is, if you've been reported, it does not mean you immediately will be eliminated. You'll go through a review process, and it will be something that you know it. You will have several people review you other things, obviously, in a hospital smelling like alcohol. I mean, we've had to remove people for things like that. I know it sounds crazy, but those are the kind of things that hospitals become very concerned over, and we don't have an option but to remove people non participation in the program. If your name is going to be listed, we need you to be an active photographer, and the best way to do that is to become a part of your community. Most of the areas have get togethers where they meet up they have online resource is where they meet up. I think a lot of it is just overcoming that fear once you can have. And if you're if you're struggling to get people in your areas, it's timeto have a meet up and get people together and talk about it, cause we find when we do them in Colorado, all of a sudden we see a boost of more people wanting to help us out, and then it kind of dies down and you have. You have to keep that social side of it going as well. So if your name is listed and you go a very, very long time without doing anything, we will remove you or put you in an inactive state status and tell you contact us and bring you back up. If you are consistently delinquent in delivering your images, this is one that I just wish you could see. The heartbreak that we go through when a photographer just disappears with somebody's images. Keep in mind that when you photograph the family, in many cases, a brief parent will not even remember if you're male or female photographer. When when they call and say It's been 12 weeks. I don't know where my images are. The first thing they're gonna ask is who is your photographer? So if the family does not know they weren't given proper business cards, they'll say, I don't know. They'll say, What hospital? Then they'll say. Was it a male or female? There are a lot of families that say I don't remember So keep in mind in a state that families where they have no recollection Everything is very much a blur at that time. So So we have. Sadly, it's It's one of the I think the biggest waste of time at headquarters is when they're spending entire days and weeks trying to find who this person is eventually finding this person. And the biggest tragedy is when this person completely ignores those calls, and it always ties back to there's a problem. Maybe they had a bad card, or maybe something went wrong. Maybe they're having personal or financial problems, but it is so not fair to hurt a family when you're you know, just because you're not strong enough to say I made a mistake or this is my situation. Can somebody else do these images these families air desperate. I mean, they're absolutely desperate every day that goes by there, thinking about that image. You know, those that day, those images and they just want to have a connection with you, Obviously using. Now I lay me down to sleep for business advancement. There a couple things you have to understand about that. We have to be very careful because we don't want to scare everybody away. My work was hanging in all the hospitals in Colorado before I met Cheryl before this was founded. So my works hang in the hospital. It's not something that I took it all down because I didn't want it associated with that. So there have been a lot of our volunteers that do other things for the hospital they donate to charity auctions and things like that. So it's not that again. It's not that you're there or that your it's just mainly the solicitation of businesses. We have sadly caught photographers who are blatantly soliciting their own business or trying to get hospital contracts or things that really aren't appropriate. When you're in volunteer status, it's totally fine for you to come back on another day as a photographer is a professional and communicate with the hospital on your needs or your thoughts. But it's not appropriate during those sessions. Violation of patient privacy. We're gonna talk about HIPPA later, but basically everything you learn and know about that family is under the HIPAA law, and you cannot repeat it to anybody, not a spouse, a loved one. And we'll talk about ways that we know that you have to sort of defuse, and we'll talk about how that we feel that should be done and then one of the biggest ones. And this is kind of one of the saddest ones is violations of fun fundraising policy. It's not okay to fundraise four year or for this organization and keep the money and buy albums for families. It's not okay to fundraise for the for this organization and use the money to buy CDs that you could deliver to the families all money, and we'll explain why has to go back to now. I lay me down to sleep and then it filters out from there benefits of your membership that $25 in one cent goes to support the office staff. We have how many office staff in there right now for 45 for the executive director you needed a mean on, exactly goes into training. I know that. You know, Sam's been doing some webinars, and we do have trainers that now travel across the country. What are they called? Certified trainers that travel across the country and dio training classes for affiliated photographers. Market in promotions we tried. We have the brochures that were able to send out to the photographers that you were then able Teoh send into your hospital so that you know your name is on there if you want your name on there. But the hospitals are able to use and give to their families lots of marketing. Lots of promotion. I mean, it's just I think the more we keep our name out in the public or anything like that, the more families are able to find us and use us in their time of need session production support. Um, but what exactly are we doing there with session productions support? I think that's just the whole comprehensive. You know how to get you to get our photographers to understand the workflow side of it. We have a lot of videos that have been created. We have a lot of support on those things. All do cost money to make happen, Right? Vendor discounts. I can't tell you how many people that Sam, as contacts with or other photographers have contacts with that want to somehow be a part of. Now we lay me down to sleep and they're able to offer their products to you, the photographers at a much discounted rates and then liability coverage. Again, the insurance is so important that, you know, we're protecting you as a photographer as being part of this organization. And things do happen, by the way, in hospitals. I mean, when you wouldn't worst case scenario, you bumped a machine and broke a machine in the hospital. There are other issues that could happen. I mean things that, you know, there was a situation. I have to be very careful how much I can say where there was a baby that the last time the baby was handled we had a. Now I lay me down to sleep, volunteer there, and then that volunteer left. And after that, the baby was misplaced, and that's all. I'll say. But you can imagine that they found the baby in a not great place. And of course, it started to track back to who was the last person that was a part of the situation. And obviously we want to make sure that our volunteer thank heavens had nothing to do with it. It was, ah, problem on their end. But we still want to make sure if something happens if something is dropped. I mean, heaven forbid if you know if if a parent said you did something which has never happened but we would want to make sure that you were absolutely covered there. Our Internet resource is on the website is just phenomenal. We've got the websites with the final photographer section. We have the family section. Photographers are able to go on there, you know, find their coordinators in their area. Other photographers, the family section we have resource is on other organizations, websites, material for parents books just just just a complete. It's phenomenal. The list that we have just accomplished. We do have the medical professional section where the nurse or the hospital staff is able to go on there and find what they need to do how they need to go about finding the photographers on. And then we have the volunteer information on there also, and in the member account, especially with our new website. The back end apparently is just phenomenal where you can go on it's so much easier not a registered. Register your sessions to find every form and document that you need again. The sponsors that you know offer the benefits to you and the training and the retouching videos. I mean, they're just all listed now, and you're able to find a minute. Could have a button it. So it's pretty great. And the forum, um, the form is an amazing place. There's two communities there. As a volunteer photographer, you have access to the photographer side of the forum. There you have every kind of room available that you can talk about some of your sessions. You can reach out to other photographers again. You can you know, it's just a world of information on there, but there's also a family side. Also, you can go on, and the families were able to go on on the parent community there, able to talk about their sessions, they're able to share their photographs with other families. You can go on there and you can read stories about other families on their experiences with their photographers. And you know they're sessions, and it's just it's again. I think that is probably one of the most helpful sides for the photographers to be able to again share with the families. When we originally started the forum, I have to give a shout out to Kurt Keith because, uh, back in the day, I mean, you have to understand how grassroots this waas We were just calling friends. And there was a gentleman named Kirk Keef, and he was an admin on another forum, and I called him and I said, I need to know how to do a forum tomorrow and he said, All better yet, I'll help you. I'll do it for you. And he spent years managing and running this in the Forum. We had no idea what a resource this would become. As far as on the photography side, you have any questions? Probably the most important thing about the forum, once you're activated is that you can go on and read and read and read about everything that could possibly happen in a session and having done the first year of sessions for the most part by myself, I mean the 1st 60 70 sessions. I know that sounds crazy, but within that first year, every time I would walk into the hospital and think I'd seen it all, something they would say Here's this condition and I would have Teoh again. I had no training, no information, didn't know how to handle it. I would have to go through that process so I would go and posted on the forum. And then after a while, more photographers come and more. And pretty soon we just have this plethora of good, solid information that if you had a baby with Anna severally, you could type in the word and SF early and just massive amounts of post would come up and you could see images and you would know what you were prepared for. So the forum has really been an incredible asset. What I find with the Forum is mostly the new members spend a lot of time there and it takes. I think they spent about a year. They're soaking it all in, and then after that, they kind of moved past that for the family side of it, we have some of our original families that still post there years later that just find that community to be, ah, peaceful place to go, a place that they could talk about their child, that everybody understands what they're going through. We could talk about bereavement and grief, but I know it's hard. You know, everybody kind of wants you to move on, and and this gives families years after they've suffered a loss, a chance just to go and talk about. And it's not just now really mean on this late families that get on the forum before that. That parent side is open to any buddy and you get Get grandmothers on there. You get older siblings on their I know that my daughter is registered on the form. I don't think she gets on it much anymore, but you know, she used to. So it is. It's a place to go and share and learn and connect, and it's interesting. I mean, we've had posts from, you know, women and even men all over the world that have said you know they just want to go there and say, I would give anything in the world toe Have this of my child. I lost a child. I mean, I remember receiving a letter from a woman who was in her nineties, and it was this beautifully written letter. And she said that she had lost her baby when she was a young mother and that it has been a heartbreaker whole entire life. And she said, Although I would give anything in the world to have an image just knowing that mothers like me won't be 92 feeling the way I feel, it's It's such an incredible thing that you're doing so your bereavement has changed so much even the past 10 years. It's changed so much so. And the stories are interesting to read and realize that, you know, years ago, you know, sixties, you know, the baby is whisked away from you. You're told to go have another one and move on. And, you know, I mean, still the effect it has on you know, those mothers today is is incredible. But here's our new main websites. And, um, it's incredible. Um, I have been on it a few times now and again, it's It's so much easier. Teoh. Navigate. You've got your main sections there, your families, your photographers and your medical. I mean, how much easier can that be? And then up above, you know, again, you've got your humane buttons. Also, you've got your about us. It'll kind of talk a little about about how we are and how we get started. But it's not the main focus of that. You know this website anymore. So on The most important is to find a photographer. But if you can see that, it's pretty obvious up in the top corner. That is where a nurse, a family, that is where they're gonna go to locate you and understand that the phone calls you receive could be from anybody. It could be, ah, hospital staff person, and it could be a family. And there we're gonna talk later about how to handle those because the conversations you would have with one are very different than you would have with the other. And here's just a sample of the forum. I think this is the, uh is this apparent side or Okay, so you've got family discussion So this is basically just kind of the family side right now, and it kind of just gives you an idea about some of the rooms that are available. I know that to be a photographer the first time you do have to register, and it's all kind of self explanatory. You click on the register button. I don't know if the next button runs you through that or anything, but you know your name address. You know, I don't know, Uh, and it all goes back through headquarters. And once we find your approval through the system or if you've already been, I think it's already. If you've been registered, you are able to go to the forum. Type in a number. Your name and you have your automatic approval and different type of registrations will see different things. Photographer section. The families cannot see it all because there are a lot of very difficult images in there. There are lot of startling images. We have sections for area coordinators that only they can see so that they could have private conversations about members that they might be having problems with. So there are several different levels in there But the main thing is, if you were to go there now, you would only see the family section right. If you become a photographer, you have to wait for that approval. It's not that you have to be approved, it's just your register, and then you'll get an email back within 24 hours on a usually on a work week that will actually set you up, set your account up, activate your account, and then you'll be able to see everything that your category should allow. All right, well, we definitely have some questions for you from folks on the Internet. And if these air questions that maybe you'll be talking about later. Phil, Frida toe. Let us know that. But we'll just take a couple now. Of course, we have folks that are joining us from all over the world, and Liz, L. Is wondering, could you speak to people not agreeing with bereavement photography? Have you heard if this hasn't worked in certain countries or cultures more so than others, I think for us right out of the gate. When we started promoting this honestly, some of the first words we heard our Oh my gosh, that's gross or oh my gosh, that's disgusting. And that one just infuriated me every time I heard that. Because unless you bet in that room and unless you've gone through that experience, unless you're apparent, that understands what that feels like. It is one of the most beautiful things that these parents have. And I truly do understand that unless you've been in their shoes, I could expect the startled reaction. But we have found from the time we found in this, the reaction from nurses and doctors and families was really I mean, we got a lot of negative, and we have found that it's almost like a revolution. Over the years, it's becoming more and more accepted. Certainly the foundation is self is more globally known, but we can talk later. We'll talk about the process of every hospital approach. It's like starting from the ground up. First of all, a lot of times when people say in the hospital, they say, you know, why would somebody want that? The first concern the hospital is gonna have is are you taking advantage of breathed parents? That's the first thing Ah hospital is gonna think is that you're gonna try to charge these people. And so it's really important that you have been trained to explain that this is completely free of charge. No money exchanges hands and that it takes a little while. But I remember in the beginning, uh, you had talked about I know you had had some frustrations with nurses not telling families, right. And I think that to answer the question, the family, the nurses, will present this organization to the families. It is the family's decision whether or not they choose to have the services or decline the services. And, yes, we have families do decline our services. They don't want the photographs. And we have families that yes, I can't imagine not having these photographs. And there are certain cultures that, you know don't agree with the photography capturing souls and, um, you know, religious beliefs and things like that. But again, it it is the family's decision. Nothing has ever pushed upon the families like you have to do this. We do have nurses that are very forceful. So some nurses that are very forceful and that you're really gonna want these you're gonna want, um um and in the hospital still do the photographs for families to and they will hold. I mean, they're not like the photography that the organization does, but they will hold those photographs for families. And I've heard families years, you know, 33 years ago that have come back. And, you know, I wish I would have done the photographs, but the hospital took photographs, and these are what I have. Can you do something for me, T edit them? And of course, we would do that for them. So and I think that that, um one of our first concerns out of the gate was we almost had to go nurse to nurse to explain this because the first nurses are very protective of their parents, and they're not gonna If they think you're gonna take advantage of them, they're not gonna let you. And so I remember in the beginning, walking in and I could tell there was some resistance, and then it wasn't very long. 6 to 8 months and they started calling us angels. I remember they'd walk in and they would say, Everybody here thinks you're angels. And just with tears in their eyes, they would tell you what they thought about what you were doing. But there is gonna be a wall there that sometimes when, especially in foreign countries and places, you know, in the United States this is very common now. I mean, every hospital is aware of it for the I can't imagine one not being aware that Canada were very big. Very. The UK were starting to grow, but they're going to be countries that just like when we started, we have to start all over. And we're looking for amazing volunteers out in the world that are willing to play a Cheryl in a sandy you know, scenario and walk in a hospital and present this information and expect a little bit of resistance, and then eventually you will find that. So So there is a certain level out there of negativity that people just hearing it. It sounds awkward or it's hard to understand. But through good education, people, people do accept it. Okay, we have a question from Mary from Costa Rica, who asks, Do you accept volunteer digital retouching assistance from other countries? If there's no now, I lay me down to sleep program in their country. Absolutely will take every artist out there. Honestly, if we could get more artists, we could assure photographers that they would have the help and we would have stronger volunteer. So absolute will take you anywhere. You'll go through a process of confirming that you're capable of doing the work. And you probably in the beginning won't have to do a lot. Because I know some of the photographers always go with the same one because they know who it is. But at the rate we will grow. And thanks to creativelive hope to grow, I bet we're gonna need everybody that we can get couple things. The protocol for this the affiliated photographer works with the Now I lay me down to sleep. Public relations person. The public relations staff will assist the media with supports and they will publish and broadcast profiles. There are always highlighted. And then our let me down to sleep newsletter the main. Now I lay me down to sleep website and now I lay me down to sleep forum What this means is, as a member, you may have opportunities to have some form of publicity because you are a volunteer for now. Let me don't asleep. You may be contacted by a new station. There may be a family that they're focusing on. It may be something that you're aware of a story and you want to have some sort of publicity. And so the proper way to do that is to contact headquarters to explain the situation. They will then take over and be the media directors. They'll work with the organizations that have contacted you to make sure that the story is presented properly. We do everyone still have problems with facts being wrong or, you know, things being misinterpreted. So it is important that although, um, it is wonderful to get that kind of media because not only are you bringing great attention to the organization, you're also bringing some attention back to you, which I think is great. As a volunteer, you should be. You should be very proud and very honored to have that type of exposure. But we just want to make sure that it is done and goes through the proper channels. Now, funding is also another really important issue that we have to address. We have funding coming in from a lot of different sources. One of them. Um, if the infant should die, we have a lot of in memory donations made back to the organization. We're going to talk a little bit right after this about the National Charity Model search with Sandy. We have written and received a few foundation grants from companies such as, um, being able to dio some computer technology, some of our webinars corporate donations. A lot of corporate donations will match some of the family donations we do have corporate donations coming in from a lot of resource is such as the White House custom color, private donations from families, um, industry in kind donations such as marathon press. They do all of the printing on all of the artwork are not the artwork, but all of the brochures. For now, I lay me down to sleep, which is a huge expense, I think and from, you know, getting of the organization. I contact marathon president their sponsors of my tour, and I asked them what it would cost to produce these brochures that every single hospital every single member needed access to, and they offered to print them for free. And I remember saying, You don't understand this is going to be huge. And to this day, seven years later, they have continued to provide all of the brochures, and they're just hundreds of thousands of them that have been printed at no charge to Now I lay me down to sleep, and that's something that those kind of donations are immeasurable because we, you know that is our direct link to the hospitals. There are many different places. Get a mention real quick, the charity model search. Because this is something that, as a member, um, and isn't even a non member, is a photographer that's interested in joining we created a few years ago back. I was trying to actually find a way to help my students grow their businesses in 2008 and I created a marketing campaign, and I wanted to make sure that the campaign tied everybody into a charity or doing some good work. So the charity that I have selected, of course, was now I lay me down to sleep in. The idea was, we produced a marketing campaign and all of the photographers that attended my shows as well as our members of Now I lay me down to sleep could be a part of this marketing campaign. The nice thing about this marketing campaign is it actually gave us a global reach. We were able to involve many more photographers. If you're interested, you can go to now. I lay me down to sleep dot com. You can also go to www dot charity model search dot org's, and you can read a little bit more about it. The idea was as one photographer. It's sort of hard to create strong marketing, especially in the economy that we're in. And we felt that if we unified everybody, we could create a national and international model search that actually would cover not just the concept of creating generating an income. But the prize is, and things that we could offer would be much bigger. In the past, we've had many different prizes full camera systems, lighting equipment, things that the photographer has one. We've also had many amazing prizes for the families that actually the child model, that one. The idea is that the photographer will actually generate this marketing campaign models. Interested families will come in, their Children will be photographed from their one image, will be selected put on the model website and it goes through a voting process. The votes are a dollar per vote, and all of that money goes directly to the Now I lay me down to sleep organization the first part of the contest. It is sort of a popularity vote those dollars, a really important that this is a very big portion of the income that we need to keep this organization going. That dollar vote goes, and once that part closes, the top winners are then taken before a regular judging panel, and they select from those winners the Cubist child. And it's one of those events that has just been such a blessing. This has really been a big part of our foundation and keeping us going. The nice thing about it is it does provide not only exposure for the organization. It provides an opportunity for other families to get involved to give back to this organization. As I mentioned, they're wonderful prizes. These are some of last year's prices. The family received savings bond airline gift card to camera. The photographer received many prices as well. So it's it's kind of a fun thing, um, fourth families and the photographers to all get involved in at this point in the last few years, having from the beginning we started. We have raised 240 just over $249,000 towards building and funding this organization. We will be doing an additional charity model search this year. And you, as I said, you have the addresses where you could find that. Keep in mind, I know that the website actually got so busy so quick that it crashed, so hopefully it's back online now. But be patient if for some reason you can't get to now I lay me down to sleep dot org's be patient. We would certainly love for you to go there and check it out. Fundraising. It's a big, important part of our organization. Those funds again go back to you, the photographer to support you through through through your sessions. It is important that all donations go back to now. I lay me down to sleep. You might have families after your session like Sam, you know, shoving money in your hands. Um, don't take it. Just tell them to go to the website. If they want to make a donation and make a donation directly to the organization. You might have parents better giving mailing you checks directly. Send him into the organization to everything has to be check marked with the I. R. S. And it's really important because we have to report every year to the IRS. We have an audit. Is that right? Just about an audit every year. And you know, the donation records have to match the taxpayer records also. So it's just really important that you know any money that you receive. Did you direct him to the website to make a donation? Or it comes directly into the organization. And again, it's just those funds They're just such a big part of, you know, helping you the photographers with your sessions and everything like that. And I could give you an example of where there's a gray area that photographers get. Several people get confused. If this is the number. One question is, people will contact a photographer and they'll say, I'd like to make a donation. You served my family like to make a donation, but I want to make sure the money stays here. I wanted to be in this city or a I want you to use it towards something, and that's illegal on DSO. We cannot have you doing that. You need to have them make a donation to the organization. Another thing is, if, let's say you were a photographer and you did a fundraiser, you wanted to do a car wash and you gathered all this money and the reason you did it is you wanted to go by some albums for families or you wanted to buy DVDs or something again. That's one of those things that's totally illegal. It's called funneling, and it is against the law if where we catch it is, and sadly, it does happen. And most of the photographers that do it don't realize they're making a mistake. They believe that they're they're adding to the work. But what happens is if a family contacts headquarters and they say I made a $400 donation, I would like a tax receipt of a write off for that. Headquarters has to account for every single penny that is donated, period were non profit, and the rules and regulate regulations that govern us are unbelievable. So those kind of discrepancies. If we had several of them in a row, we could potentially lose our nonprofit status. So we have to take it very, very seriously. So if a family contacts us and they're concerned about, they didn't get a receipt, which just so you know, every single dollar that's donated will have a receipt sent to that family. They don't receive one. Then we have to immediately report that we have to backtrack it, follow through, find out who made the donation, who cash the donation or where it went. And in any discrepancies at all, even for a single dollar, we have to report to the ire s and it will go back to the photographer that accepted the money. So he really are putting yourself at risk. If you're accepting money, that is under the premise of now I lay me down to sleep. It has to be reported, and those air huge nonprofits, a huge red flags for the I. R. S. And they're very, very meticulous in that, so it will eventually drive back to you. So to accept $50 or something like that. You know, you have to be very careful now, on the other side of it. If you have a family that sends you a thank you card and puts in a $10 Starbucks gift certificate, that's not something that you have to report to the I arrest. That's a personal gift, and you do have to be careful. There is a fine line there, but as long as they're making just a giving you a thank you, that's something that you should not feel ashamed, are uncomfortable with accepting something like that. The differences, you know, actual cash value to that personal side of it. Person phone foremost When we're talking about being a photographer in the now I lay me down to sleep organization. You cannot do this alone. When we started this organization, you meet all kinds of personalities and everybody chooses to come to this organization for a different reason. We're not a religious affiliation, however, I do believe, and I think we all believe that people, for many reasons spiritually included, choose to do this work. However, ah, lot of times in the beginning we would have photographers contact us and they would say things like, Well, I want a volunteer for this area but I want to be exclusive. I want to be the only one doing it. And we were like, You know, you don't even know what you're saying But we could see through a lot of that that that it was a status issue when they wanted it was a control issue and we've had to go through a lot of different personalities and and, you know, we have to sit back and explain to these people that it's not what you think. This is not glory and and you know, I think sometimes people see the press. We do get a lot of press, TV, news, radio as well as print media. So there is, you know, and again I feel very comfortable saying that I think are volunteer photographers who are giving so much deserve that recognition. However, if somebody's coming at this as a ploy for recognition, I think it's very it will be seen very quickly and it will be very obvious and it's really not the appropriate thing. So the first thing you want to know, what you want to have help, you wanna have a strong group of photographers that are committed like we said in Denver. There, six that Cheryl can count on. I'm sure she'd love to have 75 maybe more than six. Yeah, he's more than six. But you know you want you have to be willing to work with people, and you also have to understand the people you're working with are your direct competitors. So you kind of have to hang up your business hat at the door and make sure that when you're going in as a volunteer, although you may not be working directly with those people, you'll be photographing alone. Perhaps you still have a relationship, a working relationship with them, and you need to be prepared for that.

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