PORTRAIT OF CHARITY
Notre Dame Prep seniors send portraits to disadvantaged Indian children
Disadvantaged children in India recently received special gifts from now graduated Pontiac Notre Dame Preparatory High School students.
Hand-drawn portraits of Indian children were created and sent across the world as part of the Memory Project program. High school art students worldwide create portraits for neglected, orphaned or disadvantaged children or teenagers, with a goal of providing what project organizers refer to as a capturing of their childhood.
Ben Schumaker, founder and director of the Wisconsin-based Memory Project, said that the children in India who received portraits lost their families and live in homes run by foster mothers.
Schumaker said staff members at the children’s orphanage homes in India took photos. In other countries it is often arranged that professional or volunteer photographers photograph children.
“All of them have faced a lot of challenges in life already,” Schumaker said. “But this year in particular has been extra hard because of COVID, and for these kids to receive these heartfelt gifts from friends around the world, to know that those friends care for them and are sending their love and friendship — that really touches them deeply.”
Notre Dame Prep IB art students in years past have created portraits sent to children in Afghanistan, Haiti, Ghana, Venezuela, Mexico and Peru.
Notre Dame’s International Baccalaureate art students who graduated in May were previously being taught by Sandy LewAllen, the school’s art chair and IB art instructor. The seniors who participated included Lindsey Creek, Abigail Gietzen, Lucas Husch, Olivia McGettrick, Maggie Miklas, Charlotte Milback, Leonie Salzmann, Dani Stanko and Jason Stewart.
The process is nerve-wracking for students, LewAllen said, until they get word that portraits reached their intended recipients. That confirmation was received Aug. 26.
“It’s the last project of the school year for these seniors and they really get into it, especially since they know how excited the orphaned children will be when they finally receive their portraits,” LewAllen said.