Be Part Of Project HOPE

I suppose I should introduce my self first, right?

Hello! My name is Karen Schlink. I am a photographer located in Waterford, Connecticut. And I'm here to tell you something exciting.

I have started an adventure called Project HOPE.

On November 1, 2012, I am leaving for a ridiculous adventure… but an amazing adventure at that. I will be leaving the United States and traveling to London, England, Copenhagen, Denmark, Rome, Italy, Athens, Greece, and Amman, Jordan, and embarking on a month long journey around to world to ask as many people as I can one simple question:

“What does hope mean to you?”

My plan is to photograph anything that my heart sees as hope; whether it’s a group of kids playing on the playground, someone dancing in the street, a person giving someone else their seat on the bus, whatever catches my eye. Then I plan to talk to these people and ask them, “What does hope mean to you?” and see each person’s perspective of hope.

When I return I will be taking all the photographs, interviews, personal journal entries, experiences and anything else I come across and put it all together to create a book. With this book I not only plan to share my story and my definition of hope with the world, but to also the stories and definitions of everyone I meet.

The ultimate goal is to do what I’ve wanted to do for so long; to bring hope to the world through photography.

In order to rause the funds needed for Project HOPE, I have created a Kickstarter page.

What is Kickstarter? 

“Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects. Every project is independently crafted, put to all-or-nothing funding, and supported by friends, fans, and the public in return for rewards.”
(description via Kickstarter.com) 

Kickstarter is how I will be raising the funds needed for Project HOPE. 

I have to be completely honest- this is the hardest part about Project HOPE for me.

I don’t like asking people for money. I don’t like asking people for help. It makes me feel weird, uncomfortable, needy, and kind of lame.

But Project HOPE is about being pushed out of my comfort zone, about finding hope, about learning, about growing… the first step then for me to do any of this… is to ask for help.

This project will not happen without your help.

There are different ways you can help.

1. Spread the word about project HOPE. You can share this blog post, reblog my tumblr page, you can share the Project HOPE facebook page, you can tweet about it, share Project HOPE’s Kickstarter page, email friends and family about it, blog about it, give someone a call, send someone a letter through snail mail (whaaaat, people still do that?!), whatever form of communication is your favorite, give Project HOPE a share.

2. Pledge to Project HOPE on Kickstarter. Even if it is just $5, every single dollar helps.

3. Come to the yard sale I am having on Saturday! I will be having a yard sale at my parent's house in Quaker Hill. All the money I make during the yard sale will go straight to my Project HOPE funds. Majority of the items being sold have been donated from people in the community. Swing by to say hi, take a look around, or to learn more about Project HOPE!

Starting today I have 9 days to fundraise the remain $1,500 I need for Project HOPE through Kickstarter.

September 16 at 12:22am, the Kickstarter page closes.

If I do reach my goal of $3,000 by September 16, I do not receive any of the money raised.

So here goes nothing… it’s time to feel the fear and do it anyway!

If you would like to pledge to project HOPE. you can do so by clicking here and following the link.

Thank you so much… for everything.

And one last thing…

What does HOPE mean to you?

Download the movie