Donation to Beautiful Together

Earlier this month I made a donation that made my heart feel good.  I was able to offer my services as a photographer to raise money for a non-profit 501c3 organization that benefits children waiting for families called Beautiful Together.  By donating all session fees and additional image purchases from headshot sessions I was able to donate $840 to Beautiful Together to use towards their current project in an orphanage in Ethiopia.  You can see some of my images of the awesome, beautiful people who donated to this great charity here!

You can follow along with the progress  happening right now as they are on site working to finish renovating the bathrooms and plumbing and replenish supplies at an orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  The next project here will be renovating and expanding the classroom, among many other needs that have come to light during this visit.  There are plans for projects in the US as well, such as creating videos of adoptable children for the Heart Gallery.

I really look forward to seeing all the good Beautiful Together will do in this world.  I would highly recommend making a tax-deductible donation to help them continue the amazing work they have started!  Believe me, it does a heart good!

Let me take a step back and talk about Beautiful Together.  My boss, Tamara Lackey, and her husband created this organization this year after witnessing the need first-hand in multiple settings.  They have three children and are currently working on their third adoption (second from Ethiopia.)  Tamara has also volunteered her services taking photographs of adoptable children here in the US among other service projects.  On their trip last summer to take their son back to visit the place of his birth, they visited another orphanage in Ethiopia to volunteer for a few days.  There they fell in love with another little boy that they are currently working to bring home.  But they also saw SO much need.  The bathrooms were cesspools, the tiny classroom was pitch black, and supplies were few and far between.  So, after deciding to create this much-needed charity organization, they knew their first project would tackle some of these issues.

My Sweet Kitty, Indigo

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On Christmas Eve 2014 I took Indigo, my 11.5 year old black kitty, the namesake of my business, in to the vet for a routine checkup.  More like not very routine, because my two cats have always been fairly healthy, so they've not been to the vet very much.  But Indigo was looking a bit thinner than normal and it had been a while, plus I had a free coupon for a trip to Banfield. 

After some bloodwork and lots of waiting, I found out my sweet kitty was in severe renal failure.  The vet was shocked he had been acting normal.  I was shocked that I couldn't tell he was so bad.  The vet insanely offered euthanasia as one option.  And I spent an incredibly depressed Christmas with my family, two hours away from my kitties.  One site that gave me a lot more hope after the abysmal demeanor of the vet was Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease.  It gave me hope and also had a ton of great resources so I didn't feel quite so helpless.

A couple of days after Christmas we went in for a full day of IV fluids.  And then I was told to give him subcutaneous fluids twice a week.  He was NOT having it, and after having the vet tell me to bring him in and pay $15 each time for them to do it, I turned back to Tanya's site and found this simple contraption to make it easier.  It worked, though now, a month later, he's getting worse and he's becoming more difficult.

Indigo has been with me more than any other living being over the last 12 years.  I raised him from a 2 lb kitten and he's been my cuddly companion ever since, there by my side when I'm upset, feeling lonely, or having a bad day.  He's like my child, so when I was referred to a specialty vet hospital and told that if we could figure out what is wrong and treat him for a few different things I may have another couple good years for him, I felt there was no question.  I had to do what I could to make him feel better and have more time with him. 

We're two weeks into the treatment now and things have not improved much.  I am getting poorer and poorer with each massively expensive visit and while his anemia only gets marginally better and he seems slightly worse.  We still have a few weeks of anemia shots and antibiotics, though, so I'm still holding on to hope that he will improve.

All that being said, I am trying hard to promote my artwork and make some money to cover all of the vet expenses.  I have great gifts for Mother's Day, graduation and birthdays. 

Check out my Esty shops www.etsy.com/IndigoArtsPhotos and www.etsy.com/IndigoArts and use code INDIGO for free shipping.  Check out my Zazzle Store for awesome products with my photographs on them.  And check out my Fine Art America store on my site for a variety of sizes and print types with option matting and framing.  Thank you for reading!