Sometimes seeing a news story can inspire and move people into action and help others.
After Kristen Rice, a local photographer, saw a story on WIVB about Buffalo’s homeless and the Matt Urban Hope Center, it inspired her to reach out to the center to find out more. She said, “I was actually not aware of the HOPE Center until I saw a story WIVB did. What struck me first was that I had seen the location in the photo. Being a photographer, I have been all around the city on location for sessions. While my heart has always been broken seeing a makeshift bed in a dirty dark corner of Buffalo, I had never really done anything significant to make their lives better. I think often we don’t really let what we see sink in to a place where we feel compelled to act. What hit me secondly was the number of comments on the article of people feeling moved to help but not knowing how they could.”
Kristen Rice then reached out to Jason Flores who was featured in the WIVB story. She said, “I looked up Jason Flores and connected with the director of the Matt Urban Hope Center, Joyelle Tedeschi. Joy invited me to the center for a tour and so we could talk about how I could maybe use my photography skills to benefit the HOPE center. I was floored at their success stories and how they are not just taking supplies to the Homeless on the streets, they are bringing them in, giving them confidence and life skills, getting them jobs and permanent housing. Many of these people are then working or volunteering at the HOPE center working with other individuals just coming in.”
After meeting with Joyelle Tedeschi, she decided to take to Facebook and the internet to tell the HOPE Center story and to start an initiative to get people to donate the center to help get their “small essentials pantry” reopened. The pantry has been closed as of late because there are not enough items to stock its shelves. She said, “I knew there were others in Buffalo ready to help. Joy had mentioned that they usually had a necessities pantry where people could have access to things one can’t buy with foodstamps. Socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, chap stick and so on. The pantry was currently closed as they didn’t have the supplies to keep it open. Immediately my mind went to our medicine cabinet where we have 4 or 5 unopened toothbrushes and boxes of toothpaste. What if everyone in Buffalo gave one bar or soap or one toothbrush. This pantry could stay open for a long time. Most of us have never been in a place where we have had our hands cracking from cold weather but haven’t had the means to buy lotion or warm gloves. We truly have so much.”
The effort also inspired the photos you see in this story.
About the photos Kristen rice had this to say, “The past two winters here in Buffalo have been very harsh. People are dying. This is right in our own backyards. My thoughts behind the images that I took for the item drive was to simply let people see what I see. I see people sleeping and living in condemned buildings that we would be too fearful to even walk into. I see human beings sitting, shivering from the cold while people just walk by to go to get their daily coffee, walk their dogs, catch some lunch with friends. Yes, people work very, very hard for what they have and it is ok to enjoy some of the finer things in life but, it takes so little to make a difference. I want people to stop in their tracks here and there, open their eyes and help their neighbors. Buffalo has many good neighbors for certain, if we all pull together this can be a city we can all be really proud of.”
To find out more about the effort, you can visit the Facebook event page on what you can do to help.
https://www.facebook.com/events/868473416524731/
Or you can contribute online here.
http://www.youcaring.com/help-a-neighbor/showing-buffalove-to-neighbors-in-need-/294202
More about Kristen Rice and her family, “We moved to Buffalo Summer of 2010. My husband was a full time Architecture student at UB and my daughter was a 1 and 1/2 year old who had chronic lung disease. My daughter was born a micro preemie at just 1 lb 8 oz. Because of this, I needed to find a way to work from home. I took a hobby of mine, photography, and worked really hard to turn it into my professional business.”
You can see more of her photography here.
http://kristenricephotography.com/
Thank you Kristen Rice for the interview.
