Setting out on this project, Becky and I were fearful of many possible failures. We wondered if we discovered the idea too late. We were concerned that there would be nothing left to save and that no one would show to take advantage of our volunteer work. We were completely wrong.

 

Today we opened for business. We were met by nearly 30 residents each bringing to us several photos. Our self-imposed limit was five per family, but we soon found that our spirit of generosity grew as more and more people came in. We have not done an official count, but I would estimate that we have taken in nearly 200 photos already.

 

Word is spreading. We’re working out of a temporary library that is housed in a double-wide trailer. The head librarian, Sally, told us that she had received phone calls from as far Waveland. A TV news crew came to do a story on us, but we did not see the broadcast, since we’ve been working non-stop since the library opened. We’ve also heard that a radio station that broadcast in Bay St. Louis has also been talking about us.

 

Becky was even contacted by a paper that she once interned for in Evansville, IN. It seems they’ll be calling us in the next few days for an interview.

 

This project has taken flight. No matter how much I tried to prepare myself for the workload, I still was taken by surprise. The first photo I worked on took nearly three hours to fix the damage. Becky said it looks good, but I’m not happy with it. I’d like to do it over, but there’s too many more photos waiting to be photographed, restored and printed.

 

Becky has been a real pro. I’ve watched as she has done tremendous repair work on images that should have been discarded for trash months ago.

 

Tomorrow we’re getting a little help from our friends. We’ll be transmitting photos back to The Free Lance-Star, so some of the other photo staffers can help with restorations. A volunteer with AmeriCorps who has an interest in photography will be helping us out here on site.

 

It’s almost 10:30pm. Becky and I have three computers going. Two for restorations and printing and one that’s currently playing Star Wars III. I think that once the movie is done then so am I.