May 2013 Tornado relief/auction! (For the Moore, Newcastle, Shawnee and surrounding areas)
I am not the best writer in the world. It is probably why I do not update my blog/website as often as I do facebook. As I write this though, I don’t care if my writing is perfect…I just want to say what I am going to say and not read through this dang thing one hundred times to make sure it sounds perfect and that I have spelled everything correctly.
I have lived in Oklahoma for just shy of 5 years. This is my second tornado to experience…in both, the tornado has missed my home in Newcastle by a mile or so; either to the South or to the North. I feel so many feelings about this recent tornado….Sad…well devastated really. Lucky, guilty…today is the first day that I have not cried nonstop…it all makes me sick as it is…then when I think about those kids…the parents that lost their children…I don’t know…I can’t imagine. It brings tears to my eyes as I write this.
In 2011 when the tornado hit Newcastle (again my first to experience one) I was seven months pregnant I believe? My husband, seven year old daughter (she is nine now) and I headed to the public shelter. It was probably quite a sight. Here is this pregnant, Oompa Loompa of a lady, with a rolling suitcase filled with pictures, laptop and camera behind her. My daughter had two small carry cages with her lizards in them and my husband had our big (and rambunctious) one year old weimaraner puppy. When we arrived at the shelter, we were told that we had to go to the back door and stand over this line since we had animals…this is where a lady proceeded to be very indecisive…She kept opening the back door, unsure of whether she wanted to be in this shelter that was now over capacity by hundreds of people. I typically never say anything to be mean or hurt someone else’s feelings. In fact, I avoid confrontation. I hate it. I am pretty sure that I told this lady to make up her mind and stop opening the door….In my defense, I was afraid that we were all going to be sucked out.
That experience was absolutely terrifying to me. Especially once we came out of the shelter and I saw all of the homes that had been demolished by this tornado. It was then that it hit me…the only thing of importance to me that I brought to the shelter (besides my family) was my pictures or things that had my pictures on them. After thinking about that, I decided that I would always provide my photography services to any families that wanted family images or images of their children, after losing their home to a tornado, at no charge. And because my husband lost his home to a fire growing up, I decided that I would offer that to anyone who lost their home to something tragic such as tornado, fire, flood, etc.
Also, I know that many of my clients know this already but I DO backup all images to external hard drives and then again to a disk before I erase the images off of my computers! I will always replace anything (disk, prints, etc.) at no cost to you, if you have lost your home.
I know these things will not even be on anyone’s minds right now but they are options for the future…
Now, as for what we can do right NOW!
I would first just like to say that I work with some AMAZING people in this industry! Some from Oklahoma, some not. Everyone coming together for one simple purpose though; to raise some money for the tornado victims from Sunday and Monday in Newcastle, Moore, Shawnee and surrounding areas in Oklahoma.
Here’s what we are doing. Starting tonight, on my facebook page: www.facebook.com/autumnmoorephotography we will be auctioning off multiple items… from photography sessions, photography props, backdrops, hats, bows, etc. even a cut, color and deep conditioning treatment from a salon in Moore/OKC off of 104th…Things for photographers. Things for your kiddos…Things for people in general. Most items can be shipped, so you may participate in this auction even if you don’t live in Oklahoma! 100% of the proceeds will be donated! I am happy to ship anything to anyone willing to bid!
I also had a “de-stash” sale planned already to sell off my props, etc. that I no longer use. I will be listing some of these as well pretty soon. We will also be donating 100% of those proceeds.
I don’t ask that you like any of our facebook pages….this is not a networking thing. This is not a “promote my business thing”…I really just pray that people get involved with this, share this with your friends, family…I want to raise money for these people… Which I am sure everyone else would love to do as well! All of these vendors are going out of their way to make items, ship items….I pray that things will be bid above and beyond what they are worth and normally cost to help these people who have lost so much due to these tornadoes!
The auctions will begin this evening,.I will start adding things around 8 or 9:00 pm. They will end Friday evening at 9pm.
PLEASE SHARE this with anyone you know that might be interested in helping, by bidding! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE! Lets make some money for these people!
Also, if you have any other ideas as to what we can do or how I can specifically help, please let me know! I am open to any ideas!
Also, I do have some clients (friends now really) that lost everything in Moore on Monday. The mom literally just picked up her newborn birth announcements, prints and disk last week from my studio. It makes my heart so sad for her…her and her husband are seriously THE sweetest people ever and their children melt my heart! Their daughter was down the hall from some of the children who were seriously injured and lost their lives in the elementary school…she is seriously one of the most well mannered, sweet , fun little girls that I have ever met! I said this to my assistant the moment after they left their newborn session…the family in general felt like old friends throughout the whole session!…anyhow, they have a newborn baby boy and their little girl…I know they are so gracious and would absolutely appreciate any help (and I know so many of their friends have already reached out!)! Their little girl wears a 5/6 clothing and is very girly girl. She has nothing…no bows, clothes, shoes, earrings, dress up, dolls…nothing can be salvaged! The baby boy is breastfed but is sometimes supplemented with Enfamil formula, wears newborn Pampers and newborn and some 0-3 month clothing…they don’t have blankets, baby items, wipes…nothing. I will be accepting any donations for them at my studio tomorrow (Friday) at 3595 NW 32nd Street, Newcastle OK 73065 Phone #392-3432
Thank you to all of the vendors!
Thank you in advance to everyone who is planning on participating!
It is during these times that my hope is restored as to how many wonderful, kind hearted people are still left in this world! I think sometimes it is easy to see all of the bad things that people are doing around you…especially with what the new covers; thefts, deaths, abuse, etc…It always makes me so sad and always makes me think, gosh what are these people thinking?!…Unfortunately those people will always exist in this world. But it is very evident to me, throughout all of this tragedy, how many amazing people are still out there! It makes my heart so happy!!!!!!
GOD BLESS!!!
“When we have nothing left but God, we discover that God is enough.”
The following places you can text to donate $10 to…it is automatically added to your cell phone bill.
The salvation army: Text Storm to 80888
The regional food bank of Oklahoma: Text Food to 32333
The american red cross: Text Redcross to 90999

















































































