Using Photography for a Greater Good
It has taken more than the initial monetary donations to sustain the foundation’s ambitious projects. To generate income, the foundation produces a set of notecards with photos of New Hope and offers them for sale as the “Box of New Hope”. It’s a spontaneous response to helping others, one box at a time.
The cards are also sold by students at New Hope Solebury High School and the Jazz Academy. At first the goal was to give students a positive way to respond to the loss of their fellow student. The program developed into a presentation about social entrepreneurship to inspire students to choose service as a path in their college careers and perhaps, one day, start non-profits of their own.
All proceeds from the Box of New Hope sales are used to send boxes of items to people in need. The grassroots program is a hand up, not a hand out. Some of these items have included musical instruments and supplies sent to struggling schools, photo equipment to the Goodlands project in North Philly, staples for the food bank in Lambertville, and bicycles to Pedals for Progress.
KIPP – Knowledge Is Power Program
Inspiration for giving boxes of gear to those in need began with Jonathan in 2005, a year before he died. As a personal project, he spent time gathering used and new band instruments for KIPP:Gaston, a charter school in rural North Carolina. In 2009 Jovan Turner, a member of the first high school graduating class became a Jonny Scholar.
