Western Kentucky University’s School of Journalism and Broadcasting welcomes Operation Photo Rescue co-founder Dave Ellis as its first guest lecturer of the 2010-2011 school year on Wednesday, September 8 at 7:30 in the MMTH Auditorium.
Ellis, a director of photography at The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, VA, co-founded the non-profit Operation Photo Rescue after Hurricane Katrina to digitally repair personal photographs damaged in natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods. Since then, he and a staff of over 2000 of volunteers worldwide have repaired well over 5000 images.
From OPR’s website, “Insurance can replace homes, furniture and automobiles in time of need. However, photographs, which are important pieces of a family’s history, are unprotected. Operation Photo Rescue (OPR) is a volunteer network of professional photojournalists and amateur digital photographers, graphic designers, image restoration artists and others. OPR’s mission is to repair photographs damaged by unforeseen circumstances such as house fires and natural disasters at no cost to the people who own them.”
Ellis and a team of volunteers will be working in Nashville on Friday and Saturday, September 10-11 to repair photographs damaged in the floods from earlier in 2010.
Operation Photo Rescue: Galveston from Operation Photo Rescue on Vimeo.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Operation Photo Rescue to Send Volunteer Photo Restoration Team to Nashville, TN
Operation Photo Rescue (OPR), a global not-for-profit organization, is gathering a team of volunteers in Nashville, Tennessee to digitally copy family photos damaged during recent flooding.
Hosted by Belmont University, the OPR team will set up operations at the University Ministries office at 1900 Belmont Blvd on Friday September 10 and Saturday September 11, 2010. Hours of operation Friday and Saturday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Any Nashville residents with photos damaged during 2010 flooding may bring in 20 images to be restored free of charge. Those images that can be repaired will be digitally copied and later restored, printed and mailed back to the image owners at no cost.
On Friday, guests will find reserved parking on the 6th floor of the Curb Event Center parking garage. On Saturday, guests are welcome to park in any lot on campus. Guests who need assistance may call 615-460-6617 for an officer to give them a ride from their vehicle to Universities Ministries. University Ministries is located between the cafeteria and the Hitch Science Building. (See #22 and 26 on the map). These locations can be found on this map http://www.belmont.edu/campusmap/pdf/campusmap.pdf
Since OPR was founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in January 2006, the organization has grown into a network of over 2,000 volunteers. Volunteers come from all 50 states and from 49 other countries. OPR volunteers have restored and returned over 6,000 damaged photos to date for victims of hurricanes, floods, wildfires and other disasters.
“We’ve had an unbelievable outpouring of support from volunteers who have joined our cause from all over the world,” Dave Ellis said, Co-Founder of Operation Photo Rescue. “What started out as two people trying to make a small difference has turned into a global effort that has helped more people than we ever thought possible.”
When disaster strikes, people often try desperately to retrieve their family photos, Ellis said.
“Insurance doesn’t replace memories,” he said, “but we do.”
For additional information:
Contact: Greg Pillon, Office of Communications, Belmont University at (615) 460-6645, greg.pillon@belmont.edu
Or
Margie Hayes, Operation Photo Rescue President
Email: mhayes@operationphotorescue.org or info@operationphotorescue.org
website: http://www.operationphotorescue.org