Charity Fest: Giving Back as a Family by David Simm

I got a little off track with the family events of the last two weeks, but I'm back and it's time to get Charity Fest going again! This post this morning isn't only a contribution to Charity Fest about a photographer giving back, but for me, a testimonial to the power of the Internet.

David Simm is a photographer in Chicago .  He moved to the states over twenty years ago from the UK.  A few months ago he had a post up on one of the forums about education today. I made a comment and that started a dialogue.  In the middle of the chaos of my mother passing away, David and I got into a "conversation" on Facebook about Hasselblad.  It was in the morning and I was alone with my mother, sitting bedside while she slept.  I had pulled out my laptop to see what was going on in the outside world.  I felt like that lost soul in the desert coming into an oasis. Just the fun of the conversation with David helped me to get grounded.

David's Charity Fest contribution is a testimonial to the simplicity of giving back and a photographer's ability to make it a family event. I love the fact that they've established their own family tradition of giving back. Skip Cohen

Not that I'm looking to win any prizes or seeking recognition, but I do want to applaud the sentiment of giving back. There are many ways I have tried to do this throughout my fifty year career, including giving silent auction gifts, complimentary coverage of fund raisers etc. However; our family favourite started twenty years ago when our first child was seven, and as each child reached seven we included them too. Every year the family turns out to feed/entertain the elderly and lonely on Thanksgiving day.

Thanksgiving, I don't need to tell you, is distinctly American, so when we first arrived here we didn't know what to do with ourselves and I came up with this idea.

This kids and I never missed a year, except for our eldest, Ahmed, who spent six years serving with the Military and copped out during deployments, and our second child who for a couple of years was away at school and too far to travel.

This is quite the best way to spend a holiday that, when we arrived here, we had no clue about, so much so that we look forward with anticipation every year to the date.

Ahmed Simm serving salad to a guest at Wilmette Seniors Thanksgiving

Amal Simm serves up some leftovers to go for the volunteers

Four Rotarians serve up lunch for the seniors