Fall and Christmas Donations | Rewards For You | Maya Anna Photography

 This will be our 3rd year of collecting Food and Toy donations as part of our Fall and Christmas portrait season. Last year, we collected over 120 food items and 30 toys. It was absolutely amazing to drop off those donations that went to Helping Hand Mission. I know many local children were fed and had a present to open last year all because of my amazing clients.

Changing It Up--

This year, we are changing it up a bit, and will be donating to the Urban Ministries of Wake County. They have slightly different needs, especially for the homeless and hungry, so we will be donating all of our collections to the ministry. You may have seen Urban Ministries and their food drives sponsored by Chick Fil A before. They usually have big cardboard boxes set up in local Chick Fil A restaurants where customers can drop off canned items and toys.  A few weeks ago, I visited a local Chick Fil A and happened upon one of the large cardboard collection boxes from Urban Ministries as well as a polite older woman telling customers about the mission as they waited in line. I took a peak in one of the boxes and it had maybe 3-4 small bags of canned items. The toy box had nothing...

I asked the woman how long these boxes had been set up for, and she said told me at least a few months. And there had only been a handful of donations? She replied that yes, sadly, their ministry is in need of a lot of things and donations are very slow for them. They pick up slightly around the holidays, but they only hope to do more. 

This got me thinking--I can help. I can help Urban Ministries of Wake County. Let's support our local community this year and help those who need food, basic supplies, and toys for the little ones.

A Little Info on Urban Ministries of Wake County

Our pantry provides a weeks’ worth of groceries for families in need and distributes more than 400,000 meals a year. Food insecurity is one of the biggest concerns for those facing poverty, especially during the summer months when children are home from school. Goals include:

• Provide 230 tons of food, including fresh produce, to 8,000 households – including 11,000 children – sufficient to feed each family for one week.
• Harvest 2,000 lbs. of fresh vegetables from our community gardens.
• Improve quality of donated food through by encouraging volunteers to read labels for low sodium, fat content, no sugar added to products, etc. In this way we hope to educate donors too, benefitting their families as well!
• Use our refrigerators and freezers to “shelve” fresh or frozen vegetables instead of canned.
• Coordinate the efforts of 1,500 volunteers, who learn in orientation the importance of donating nutritious food which, in turn, helps inform the food choices they make for themselves.

What Is Needed & How We can Help

The wish list provided for 2016 by Urban Ministries of Wake County is extensive, but I am going to narrow it down to a few specific items and how you can help donate. Listed beside each item is the quantity needed to get you a freebie from Maya Anna Photography. 

Batteries (AA, C and D): 1 package of 8 or more batteries = 1 digital image
Canned Food (no glass please): 10 Canned Food Items = 1 digital image
Cereal: 3 regular size boxes = 1 digital image
Whole Grain Pastas: 5 boxes = 1 digital image
Fresh Vegetables: 10 items = 1 digital image
2 New Small Toys = 1 digital Image 
1 New Larger Toy = 1 digital image
1 Baby Item (new items only) (blankets, bottles, socks, onesies, etc) = 1 digital image

*You can trade any digital image rewarded via donations for a $10 print credit.*

​Cash Donation (click here) = $ amount donated = $ amount in credit for Maya Anna       Photography (please provide receipt or screen shot of donation amount)

**LIMIT OF 5 DIGITAL IMAGES PER SESSION VIA DONATIONS, HOWEVER, YOU CAN DONATE IN UNLIMITED AMOUNTS**


We hope that this year brings even more donations than last. Please note that you can not receive digital images via donations unless you have pre-purchased a digital package. These digital images via donation are only "in addition to" the package you will previously purchase. You can score up to an additional 5 images by donating items listed above. You may also receive credits by donating cash via the website listed under cash donation above. That credit can be used to purchase digital images, prints, or a future session.

Thank you so much for joining us this Fall and Christmas season! If you haven't booked your fall or holiday session yet, please proceed by clicking here and get on the calendar!

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