During COVID-19, in what was a time of loss, fear, and struggle for so many, it was encouraging to see people rising up to help bring relief and hope to others in creative ways.

A few U.S. photographers launched a PORCHrait campaign in April of 2020 to celebrate the high school class of 2020 while respecting lockdown rules by taking senior photos from students’ porches. For each session, the senior or their family donated $15 toward Africa New Life’s Food & Care Relief Fund to provide two weeks’ worth of emergency food and soap for a family in one of our communities! The photographers shared, “We are loving meeting all of you seniors and celebrating you!!! You all are making a difference by providing meals for students in Rwanda during the COVID crisis. The future looks bright with these generous 2020 seniors as our future leaders!”

A number of photographers around the country started their own variations on the PORCHtrait idea, raising enough in total to provide relief for 290 families in Rwanda. Other partners of Africa New Life launched their own Facebook fundraisers for food relief efforts, raising nearly $10,000 together!

We loved hearing about and seeing innovative ways of bringing encouragement and aid to others, and we hope it’s encouraging to read about one of them here.