I little while back I received an email from my friend & colleague, Stacey, of FosterMAK.com… Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada, Alberta & N.W.T Chapter was looking for a photographer to mentor 11 year old Luca on a photography project that would be auctioned at a fundraising event in January. I wasted no time in writing to Carly, at Children’s Wish, expressing my enthusiastic desire to be involved.

Children’s Wish Foundation is amazing…here’s the work they do, in their words:

Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada is the largest and only all-Canadian wish granting charity dedicated to granting wishes to Canadian children between the ages of 3 and 17 who are diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. For more than 30 years, Children’s Wish has worked tirelessly to grant heartfelt wishes to more than 25,000 children and their families – that’s three wishes each and every day, all year long!

Children’s Wish has chapter offices and professional staff in every province, and each wish family is assigned a dedicated Wish Coordinator who is able to personally and carefully structure each heartfelt wish experience to meet the particular needs of the child and their family. Travel wishes include all siblings 21 years and under living in the same household, and families travel worry-free thanks to exclusive Blue Cross insurance.

Our newly expanded reach, which includes children diagnosed with a serious neurological or genetic condition, means continued strong wish referral support through our medical community. Wish referrals continue to increase year over year, and we are proud to maintain our ‘no waiting list’ policy, thanks to our generous donors.

Now more than ever, we are encouraging Canadians to donate and support Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada. Help us grant the next single-most heartfelt wish.

Luca was thrilled to be granted a wish (an incredible Disney adventure!)…and even more excited when he, being an avid hockey-lover, was chosen to be a Children’s Wish Ambassador for the Kimmett Cup Pond Hockey Tournament! You can read all about KC12 here and check out all they’ve accomplished so far:

Kimmett Cup is proud to have donated over $1,500,000 to the community through charities including the Lindsay Leigh Kimmett Memorial Fund, Right to Play, Children’s Wish, KidSport and Helping Families Handle Cancer. Click on the icons to the right to donate to this years charities – Children’s Wish and Children’s Cottage Society.

Lindsay Leigh Kimmett Memorial Fund: $65,000
LINDSAY Virtual Human Project: $25,000
Right to Play: $400,000 ($100,000 raised by KC5 matched x 3 by the government)
Children’s Wish: $755,000 (75 wishes)
Children’s Cottage Society: $89,000
Helping Families Handle Cancer: $28,000
KidSport: $7,000

The mission, for Luca and I, was for me to provide a little guidance so that he could have fun creating photographic art that would be auctioned at the Kimmett Cup banquet auction, raising important dollars for Children’s Wish. We met a few weeks ago for the first time and chatted all things photography (and some things ‘Pittsburgh Penguins’ too!). I loaned him a camera so that he could shoot wherever and whenever he wanted and we scheduled to meet the following week; unfortunately, Luca fell ill with the flu and, given his weakened immunity, had to spend a little time at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. I am VERY HAPPY to report that Luca has his feet under him once again and we got to spend time together this past Sunday looking at his work, culling his faves, designing what he wanted the final auction item to ‘look like’, and then playing in Photoshop together (so fun seeing his eyes light up when I showed him all we could do in ‘post’!!)

To say that this opportunity has been profound is simply not encompassing enough…I have loved the entire process and have deep gratitude to both Carly and to Luca’s wonderful mom, Gabriella, for allowing me the privilege to play a role in this project! Luca is a bright, fun, curious soul - with an amazing eye for photography! - who I am so happy to now know. I can’t wait to share his beautiful work with you…soon.

I also want to give a HUGE shout out to my pro lab, Technicare, who have generously donated all the printing and shipping to make this project possible! Their consumer side, PixPortal, is ready and waiting to help you get your photos off your phone and onto your walls!

In this season of giving, when we are so aware of our own many blessings, might I suggest the gift of a donation to Children’s Wish so that they can continue to help light up the lives of precious kids across Canada.

My gratitude and heartfelt well wishes to Luca, his family, and each of you…
may peace, good health, the love of family & friends, and some yummy food too all be yours this holiday season!

The studio is now officially closed while we are off exploring all the colour and music and vibrance of Brazil

…see you in 2020!

xo
Lori