Looking Back at 2010
This year OPR did only one copy run and that was to Nashville, TN. In terms of the numbers of photos brought back it was very successful. We helped 60 families and came back with over a 1,000 photos to be restored. The run was held at Belmont University and we were very fortunate to have a large number of students helping at the welcoming desk. I would like you to read what Autumn Allison, journalism student at Belmont, wrote about OPR’s visit.
Four months after the Nashville Flood, relief efforts are still in process, one of the non-profits continuing with aid is Operation Photo Rescue.
On Sept 10 and 11, the Operation Photo Rescue team, including the president of the non-profit, Margie Hayes, came to Belmont’s campus and set up in University ministries. Sixty families came to get roughly 1,000 photos restored.
“This is one of those things you think about when you’re older, what is the one thing you would want to get out of your house after a disaster . . .It’s photos, said Dr. Andi Stepnick, a sociology professor at Belmont University.
For the most part, aid efforts focus on clean up and providing temporary shelter for victims to rebuild after the disaster. Operation Photo Rescue is different because it fixes valued possessions. Photos are some of the first things to be thrown out once the waters recede, but for many victims the treasured memories are too difficult to trash. Photo restoration allows victims to save pieces of their past while continuing the process of clean-up said Hayes.
Just like any other Operation Photo Rescue event, the planning took several weeks to complete. However, Operation Photo Rescue Nashville almost didn’t happen. During the planning process, Stepnick and Hayes had problems finding a venue to hold the event.
Stepnick contacted all the normal meeting places, like the Curb center lobby and the Beaman Student Life Center conference rooms, on Belmont’s campus to hold the event, but found out that each facility was already booked.
“I guess with Belmont’s growth, all the usual meeting places are getting filled faster,” said Stepnick. “I started checking off the campus site but even the churches turned us down. We finally went to the University Ministries and they said “yes.”
All of Stepnick’s persistence paid off in the end. Without Stepnick’s consistent work, Operation Photo Rescue Nashville would not have happened said Hayes.
Throughout the two days, many of the victims shared their experience of the flood and stories behind the damaged photos.
Alexa Colton, a Belmont senior and a new Operation Photo Rescue member, listened to all the stories and experiences which pull at the heartstrings.
“They’re all so great the ones that struck out in my mind is one woman who baby and wedding photos of her son. She started crying and said: ‘I promised myself I wouldn’t cry’,” said Colton. Then she told me about her son that had died two months before the flood. All the photos brought with her were all she could salvage from the flood.”
Other victims had similar stories and all expressed their gratitude for the restoration of treasured photos along with the volunteers who listened, cried and comforted them.
“Based on the ones I personally helped, the people were extremely happy to see us. One lady donated $50 when she handed over her photos and another lady expressed her gratitude that Operation Photo Rescue came to Nashville when all the press seemed to be concentrating on the Gulf Coast and the BP disaster,” said Hayes. “We felt really welcomed and appreciated and I know that when families get their photos back they will be really thankful.”
It’s Operation Photo Rescue’s treatment of victims that sets it apart. People are able to relate the volunteers and receive attention based on their needs.
“There are so many instances that make each victim unique, all they want is someone to share it with,” said Stepnick.
Autumn Allison
Margie Hayes
OPR President
