For the second consecutive year, Dallas-area studio owners Matt and Angie Weedon were the top individual donors to PPA Charities with a total contribution of $9,600. In addition to providing support and sponsorship for other PPA Charities activities in 2010, a contribution of $10,000 made White House Custom Colour the year’s top corporate donor. View the entire 2010 donor list by clicking here.

Angie and Matt Weedon are owners of Angela Weedon Photography in Garland, Texas, and Angie recently concluded her service as a member of the Board of Trustees of PPA Charities. In four of the past six years, Angie and Matt have topped all individual donations to Operation Smile. Their total contributions during that period is an astonishing $37,500! Most of these funds were raised through studio activities, including the sale of “Smile Cards.” You can read more about the Weedon’s success in fundraising by clicking here. Visit their website by clicking here.

Thank you Matt and Angie and WHCC!!

During the Awards Ceremony at PPA’s ImagingUSA, PPA Charities President Mary Fisk-Taylor received The PPA Charities Legacy Award, which recognizes “outstanding service and commitment to PPA Charities and philanthropic endeavors.” The award was presented by PPA Charities Executive Director Bert Behnke, himself a winner of the Legacy Award. Mary has served as PPACH president since 2005.

For the second straight year, annual donations to PPA Charities from members and friends have allowed PPA Charities Trustees to allocate a gift of $100,000 to its charitable partner, Operation Smile. The contribution was presented at the PPA Charities Celebration gala on January 15, in San Antonio.

It takes only $240 to repair the smile of a child because the medical professionals and staff who provide these life-changing operations volunteer their services to Operation Smile. To date, PPA Charities has raised a total of $350,000 for Operation Smile. That translates into nearly 1500 smiles that have been saved through the generosity of PPA members and friends.

A very large THANK YOU goes out to Jennifer Jamieson of San Francisco on a recent donation of $10,000 to PPA Charities. The donation came from the Jamieson Foundation in San Francisco, founded in 1984 by her grandfather. The family business has been in sand and gravel since 1903, and was prominent in much of the rebuilding of San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake.

Jennifer graduated from Santa Clara University in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and earned her masters degree in business administration from the University of San Francisco. After working as an Enterprise Account Manager at Wyse Technology in San Jose and an Account Manager for Microsoft, Jennifer decided to follow her dream to become a professional photographer, opening her studio in 2009.

“I became excited about PPA Charities after spending time with Britney Fullgraf at the PPA Charities booth in Nashville and attending the Charitable Marketing classes presented by Sandy Puc and Vicki Taufer. I love the integration of the passion of photography and what we do to make people’s lives brighter with our talents. I am excited about our role with Operation Smile and helping those less fortunate and blessed to be a part of such a wonderful experience.”

…and PPA Charities is blessed to have Jennifer Jamieson. Thank you Jennifer for your generosity!

Houston Photographer Cindy Crofford is one of several hundred PPA-member photographers throughout the U.S. and in Australia who have launched fund-raising campaigns in support of Operation Smile. Cindy, who is a longstanding participant in Family Portrait Month, and who was one of the first PPA studios to become a PPA Charities Operation Smile Studio, recently experienced a tangible reminder of the importance of the mission supported by Operation Smile.

Not long ago Cindy photographed a portrait session for a very special mom and daughter. Michelle has been a mom to her adopted two-year-old daughter Lily for only a few months when they came for the portrait session, but she and her husband have been in Lily’s life since the day she came to live in the Chinese orphanage where the family had registered for adoption. The abandoned baby girl had been born with a cleft lip/palate, and Michelle and her husband Brandon provided financial support for corrective surgery for the baby, who has blossomed into a beautiful toddler who will enjoy a normal life because of the gift of surgery.

“Seeing Lily, and knowing how different her life would have been without the support of her new family,” said Cindy, “really drove home how important it is to support an organization such as Operation Smile.”

This year Cindy advertised Family Portrait Month through a post card sent to her clients, the front of which is pictured above. The back copy side of the card is shown below.

Cindy recently produced a 12-page 6”x9” family portrait booklet that includes this page devoted to the studio’s support of Operation Smile:

A page on Cindy’s website also advertises Family Portrait Month to site visitors.

Thanks to Cindy and to all those who are raising funds for Operation Smile through PPA Charities!