CALC Service Project

Each year TASP designates a fundraising recipient for its community support project at the annual conference. The 2010 Children’s Assistance for Living Committee’s (CALC) Recipient is the Heart Gallery of North Texas. The idea for using professionally taken portraits of children in foster care originated in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The first Heart Gallery exhibit opened there in 2001 and since then Heart Galleries have spread across the United States. A documentary piece done on the television show 20/20 in 2005 suggested that adoption rates in some areas doubled after Heart Gallery displays. The Heart Gallery is never meant to “market children” but rather to market the idea of adoption from foster care. All of the children who are photographed are legally available for adoption and are waiting for a permanent family. The motto of the Heart Gallery is “There are no unwanted children, only unfound parents”.

 
The professional photographers who donate their time to photograph these children truly capture the spirit and personality of each child. The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” could never be more true. Children in foster care are often referred to as “forgotten children” but once people have seen their faces it is difficult to forget them. Those who are not in a position to foster or adopt may become advocates, mentors or community volunteers-all serving valuable roles in a child’s life. The Heart Gallery North Texas has been under-utilized as a resource for helping these children achieve permanency.
 
For more information about CALC or how you can raise funds for this worthy cause please contact Sandy Roland at sandra.roland@richardson.k12.tx.us