A DIRECTOR WITH A MISSION - PROJECT:NEW BORN

In creating Bella Famiglia Photography, it’s chief mission is to photograph women pregnant in the lush garden in my backyard, I also wanted to contribute my photography in a way that would benefit in a meaningful way. I was introduced to Schatzi Kassal, one of the founders of Project: New Born.

Project: New Born is a nonprofit philanthropic organization founded in 1973 by a group of committed and dynamic women who devoted themselves to raising much-needed funds for maintenance and support of the Project: New Born Neonatal Special Care Center, a facility for imperiled premature and high risk infants located at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital. In 1986 Project: New Born was joined by the Infantry, an offspring group of young energetic men and women, dedicated to the same goals and pledged to support the annual funding necessary to provide the best possible care for the babies.

Schatzi gave me a tour of the unit one Saturday morning, and it was remarkable how the facility welcomed us to the unit. You could tell Project New Born has been a great contributor to the success and survival rate. We walked through the three units watching the tiniest babies I have ever seen breath and wiggle their tiny fingers and toes. But what tears your heart out is the sight of the mother and father fixed in a stare, watching the child for hours, some throughout the night.

This is when I got my vision, I wanted to help and my idea felt right! I want to shoot a series of portraits that will line the hallway leading to the unit. The portraits will be of former patients in the unit, remember PNB has been involved for over thirty years. These former ICU survivors will be holding recently released infants. The message: yes, although this is a scary time to watch your newborn child in an incubator, the message from the images in the hallway will say, yes there are plenty of happy endings in this unit. A message of hope!

Together with Dr. Teresa del Morel and Paula Lalinde, Ph.D., we plan to start the project soon. Everyday the unit sees another baby and that only means there is another mother and father that need to be reminded of HOPE!

At our last meeting they were generous and asked me to join the Board of Directors of Project: New Born. I have also been named a "Saturday Ambassador", if you would like a tour please contact me.