Family Portraits at St. Vincent Day Home

I have always admired Saint Vincent’s Day Home in West Oakland, and wanted to somehow collaborate with them to offer complimentary portraits to their families. This incredible non-profit offers free quality pre-school education to Oakland’s working poor. Over the years, I have met so many families that have never had a professional family portrait made and it deeply saddened me. It’s wonderful to make pictures of kids, but the children will one day treasure seeing their relationship with their parent represented in photographs. I realized I could easily offer this service. Beautiful family portraits help us appreciate our relationships and make us focus on what’s most important. In the era of digital photos, it’s rare that we get quality archival prints made for our homes. Digital photos will corrupt eventually, but a stunning archival print will be appreciated and passed to future. Over the course of three days, we photographed 30 wonderful families in the school’s library. In some cases, three generations showed up, and the results were precious. Funny enough, I would find out that my mother a social worker, volunteered at this organization over 60 years ago as a college student. It is rewarding to be able to support such an esteemed educational organization for throughout our families generations. From the organization, “100 years ago, Saint Vincent’s Day Home was founded in West Oakland to ensure that children of the “poorest of the poor” working families would be educated and nurtured, and their parents empowered to meet family responsibilities. It is located in what has become one of the Bay Area’s most challenged communities. In the midst of this harsh environment, Saint Vincent’s Day Home stands out as an oasis of beauty and stability, offering hope to the children and families it serves. To date, some 35,000 children have graduated from the Day Home.  Many of our alums have gone onto college, started businesses, become community leaders, and welcomed children of their own. At Saint Vincent’s, we believe that an early childhood education lays the foundation for future success.  Proud of our heritage and tradition, we are committed to serving 50,000 more children in the century to come.” Thank you for an unforgettable experience, families of St. Vincent’s Day Home!