Day 361/365

     Friday/day 361 I covered a school assembly hosted for the Frankenmuth elementary, middle, and high schools. The assembly was held so that Detroit Lions kicker Jason Hanson could come and talk to the students about nutrition, and how important it is to make healthy choices, even when you're young. Hanson seemed like a pretty down-to-earth guy, making jokes about how he was sure he was boring everybody and making a point to get all of them involved.

Day 346/365

     I did shoot sports Thursday night/day 346, but not before shooting Jessica Schwerin's return to school after finishing her home rest following her kidney transplant surgery. I've loved covering this story, but it was nice to bring some finality to it in wrapping it up. She's an awesome kid, and to see how great she's doing and how the community has come to support both her and her donor Brian Martindale has been a great thing to witness.

Day 339/365

     I got to shoot an anti-bullying rally this afternoon, that this weekend's upcoming Monster Jam took part in. After an assembly giving some local middle school students some tips on how to respond to bullies, an announcer from the monster truck free-for-all picked thirteen kids to go outside with him and spray paint a "crush car" with bullying sentiments that will be crushed this weekend at the Monster Jam. The kids, as expected, loved it, and it was a pretty cool event to witness. 

Day 337/365

     One of my assignments on Tuesday/day 337 was photographing former Detroit Red Wing Darren McCarty during an appearance he made at the Saginaw YMCA to sign autographs and pose for pictures with fans. There surprisingly weren't too many kids there, but this boy was one of the few who was, and I ended up liking his reaction to McCarty the best. 

Day 326/365

     Today was all about the snow coverage, and this afternoon I got to go out to a park in Frankenmuth to shoot people sledding. Most public schools in the area had snow days, so there were plenty of kids and families to be seen. My favorite picture ended up being this one though; it's not much to look at visually but it was fun to witness in person. A mother was trying to teach her 2 year-old daughter how to make snow angels, and the little girl was transfixed by the whole thing. I doubt she understood, but she looked like she was having fun with her mom nevertheless. 

Day 295/365

     Tuesday's/day 295's photo isn't much to look at, but it certainly carries a lot of meaning. If you remember me talking about Jessica, the 10 year-old Bay City girl in need of a kidney transplant, then this sign will make more sense, (she was in my posts for days 186 and 254). Jessica was originally brought to MLive's/the Bay City Times' attention when her mother, Stacey, was seen standing on the corner of a major intersection in Bay City asking passing drivers to be organ donors, as her daughter had been diagnosed with kidney failure. This is that sign. I'll be covering some major developments in Jessica's story starting tomorrow/Thursday/day 297 through this weekend, so stay tuned!

Day 279/365

     Today my mom got some of our younger cousins over for our yearly holiday baking/crafting binge. My cousin's two daughters are the cutest kids, I swear, and they are so much fun to have over. We made tons of cookies/cupcakes/and other desserts, and had a great time doing so. 

Day 276/365

     This morning I got to shoot a pretty fun assignment; the national "Shoes that Fit" campaign being hosted at two local schools. The campaign gets new pairs of shoes for children in need. I shot the shoes being handed out to elementary school kids this morning, and they were absolutely ecstatic. My ears were ringing for about a good hour after I left the school from their squealing and cheering. It was really such a great story to be a part of.

Day 254/365

     A few months ago, on day 186, I took photos of a 10 year-old Bay City girl who had been diagnosed with stage five kidney failure earlier this year. Her mother gained local and national attention with her attempts to get the word out that her daughter needed a donor, whether it was by contacting us at the newspaper, or standing on street corners asking people to help get the word out and get tested to be donors. Her efforts paid off.

     Her daughter, Jessica, has received a donor anonymously and will have the kidney transplant in the first or second week of January. Local Bay Cit businesses are now helping the pair out with medical bills by holding donation days this Saturday, where beauty salons, Jessica's favorite candy store, and other shops will donate and profits and proceeds taken in directly to Jessica and her mother, Stacey. A benefit is being held for them Friday night at a local theater with food and music as well.

     This girl is by far one of my most favorite people I've photographed. She's so much fun, and such a spunky little kid. I had to remind myself how serious her problems were, because you'd never know it by meeting her. I met her and her mom at the aforementioned candy store this evening, and after we had taken pictures and I was going to leave, Jessica came up to me and gave me a giant hug. Then, her mother thanked me for helping to get her story out, and that she didn't think they could've done without the paper's publicity. The article that I took today's photos for should be up tomorrow, but in the meantime you can see all the photos from today in this MLive gallery here, and once the article's up there should be a link to it under the photos when you look at them individually. 

Have I mentioned before that I love my job?

     

Day 249/365

     After stumbling through early-morning Black Friday coverage bleary-eyed and almost completely fed up with people in general, I got a bit of a pick-me-up with my afternoon assignment. Since the day after Thanksgiving is a big day for Christmas tree farms, a reporter and I went to a few of the local farms to interview and photograph families picking out their trees. This little girl was hilarious; she got bored while waiting for her parents to finish paying for their Christmas tree so she climbed into the tree baler when she thought no one was watching. The whole afternoon made me a bit nostalgic, but it was nice to see the fun side of the holiday season after having to deal with the greedy and crazy side this morning.