Giving Back with Operation: Love Reunited

A few years ago, I heard about free portrait and homecoming sessions for deployed service members and their families.  It was a relatively new organization, and was getting a lot of buzz on my military spouse forums.  

Operation: Love Reunited was founded as a non-profit, fully volunteer organization, designed to give back to military families with a loved one deploying, already gone, or returning home, through the gift of photography.  When I first heard of OpLove, my first thought was, “Wow, I am definitely going to give them a call when my husband deploys!”  It wasn’t long before I had my second thought: “Hey, I’m a photographer, a military spouse, and I want to give back to other military families.” So I submitted an application to become an OpLove volunteer photographer.

Upon my acceptance, I began receiving phone calls from military families.  I was located in Northern Virginia at the time, and the requests were slow but steady.  After my first photo session with a family whose father was soon deploying with the Navy, I realized that this organization was unlike any other I’d ever volunteered for in the past.  This hit close to home. These people I am photographing are my family.  And not just in the sense that we share a commonality.  No.  Any military spouse will tell you, we are all one big family.  We support each other. We boost one another’s spirit when times are tough.  We celebrate homecomings, births, promotions and retirements together, like old friends, even when we’ve only known each other a few months. This is the strength of the military family. This is why I am so dedicated to the OpLove organization.

You’re probably wondering how OpLove works.  Military families receive portrait sessions free of charge, up to two times per year, per deployment. These sessions may take place prior to the deployment, at the farewell, during the deployment, during R&R, or at the homecoming. The deployed family member will receive an album of images while serving overseas as a reminder of home and his/her loved ones. (The exception are homecomings, when it is at the photographer’s discretion to provide an album or disc of images.)  

That’s it! No strings attached. There are volunteer photographers all over the country, and Australia recently announced their own OpLove organization!  To find an OpLove photographer near you, please visit http://www.oplove.org/oplovefinder.

A few years have passed now, and we are stationed here in California. In San Diego County, over 200,000 military members and their families live, work, and play, all while enduring deployments and separations.  I remain committed to the OpLove program, and recently became the regional coordinator for Southern California.  I work with almost 30 other area photographers to provide lasting memories and a morale boost to our deploying and deployed Marines, sailors, airmen and soldiers.  

Just this year, I have photographed fathers meeting sons for the first time, fiances returning from their first deployments, and dozens of special memories being created back home in California.  Some of my most amazing moments have been behind the lens at homecomings. I’m so happy to work with all of my OpLove  families to take away one less worry about capturing those treasured moments.     

If you’re interested in learning more or are interested in volunteering as a photographer, please visit the Operation Love Reunited site.