winners announced!

I made an announcement on Facebook and Twitter a week or so back.. about how I was in search of deserving families for a special holiday gift. Many submissions were sent to me by friends and kin of those deserving families. Each story melted my heart. The Holidays have always put me in touch with how thankful  I am and how lucky I feel – I wanted to let this great feeling rub off on all of you so you could feel the warmth a good deed can create. Giving feels amazing. Take a look around you; lend a hand. Often the gift that someone needs isn’t a monetary gift – but the gift of love, a shoulder to lean on, or just being that person they can talk to.

Here’s what we wanted to present a deserving family with this holiday..

Free Family Portrait Session      
Digital Negatives
24 Wallet Prints
Two 8×10 Prints
Three 5×7 Prints
(value $750)

ALSO! My friend Holly Hughes over at JD Michel Salon in Fenton has decided to jump in and offer some of her services as well. She’s agreed to give these lucky families some special treatment before the portrait session! (See what I mean? Giving rubs off!)

The winners will receive a free cut/colorfor the whole family with Holly in at the JD Michel salon in Fenton before the Photoshoot!

Choosing the winners was very difficult as I felt that everyone deserved this great gift! But, we narrowed it down to two. Here are our 2009 winners!

The Stevenson Family!
We have been told a lot  of great things about this family. Trevor is 2yrs old and has an unidentified lung disease. His mother has been his rock throughout this trying time and recently lost her job after spending ‘too much’ time in the hospital with her son. There’s a special lung clinic in Seattle that little Trevor needs to attend for specialized treatment but Medicaid wont cover it. Danielle Priebe is the wonderful woman who nominated this deserving family – she is hosting a January benefit to try and raise enough money to send him to the Seattle Clinic! Danielle, if there’s anything I can help you with for the benefit please let me know.

The Nolte Family!
The Nolte family has had their fair share of hardships. Tracy and Jeff have two children, Kristina (13) and Jayden (3). Their story is a hard one to swallow. Tracy and Marvin were high school sweetharts - they got married and gave birth to a precious girl, Kristina. When Kristina was 3, Marvin was unexpectedly taken from them in a motorcycle accident. The year prior to Marvin’s passing, Tracy’s father was murdered in Arizona. After years of healing, Tracy married Marvin’s best friend, Jeff. The two of them had a little boy, Jayden. Just this past year Tracy’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Aside from making sure their own family is taken care of, the Nolte family has been making sure Tracy’s mom’s bills and housework is cared for. This family has gone through so much and Christy Deringer nomitated them by saying if she was able to bless one family this holiday – it would be them. I couldnt agree more.

Thanks to everyone who nominated a family! We will have plans to do this again soon! FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER to know when the next gift will be given! www.twitter.com/jenkniivila