Get Family Photos Taken While Helping Mather Hospital Staff: Info

PORT JEFFERSON, NY — Mather Matters, a Facebook group created to show support for front-line health care workers at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson who are battling the new coronavirus, organized the "Front Porch Photography Project." The project will serve as a fundraiser to benefit Mather Hospital workers by providing them food and equipment.

For a donation, with the amount up to the participant, a photographer will swing by and shoot some portrait shots of the family on their front porch. Once a donation is made, email the photographer of the area you live in to make an appointment. Don Longo covers the Port Jefferson area, and he can be reached at donlongo@outlook.com, while Courtney Oates is snapping photos in the Setauket area; she can be emailed at courtneyoatesphotography@gmail.com. Photo sessions are also available in Coram, Mount Sinai, Miller Place, Rocky Point, Selden, Middle Island, Ridge and Wading River.

PayPal donations can be made to MatherMatters2020@gmail.com, while the Venmo account is MatherMatters.

The steps are: make the donation, email the photographer to schedule an appointment, do the front porch photo shoot and receive your photos via email, all while helping heroes at Mather Hospital. Photo shoots will be limited to 15 minutes per household, and the photographer will provide details when making the appointment.

The Mather Matters Facebook group was created April 7 "with the intention of reaching out to the staff at Mather Hospital to show our love and heartfelt appreciation for all they do, and will continue to do, for us and our loved ones, during these horrific days," according to its about info.

Longo said he's volunteering on behalf of the page by doing the photography and publicity. Mather Matters is organized and ran by Roseann Passiatore.