Houston, TX Children and Family Photography | Christie Lacy » Giving Back

gifts that grow | houston photographer

Christie Lacy Photography — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:19:56 +0000

There are only a few more days until Christmas is here. People have shifted into their frantic holiday mode and seem to have tunnel vision (no, maybe not all of them, but a lot!).

This will likely be my last post before Christmas so I thought I’d post a few little things I’ve found in the last few months. I love buying from charities and organizations that have a purpose behind them. IF you’re in a jam and can’t figure out a gift to give someone, perhaps think of any one of these. Any one of them is a gift that grow, whether it’s message can grow in someone’s heart, help someone on the other side of the world thrive, or grow spiritually…

Help give a child in Bubanza an education by purchasing a desk for them! Click the image below to read a beautiful story about how life is changing for students there!

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I somehow came acros Sevenly.org earlier this year. Every week they feature a new t-shirt and a new organization to raise funds for. Through the sales of their t-shirts, they’ve helped little girls enslaved in sex-trafficking, helped give children education, helped to give water wells to people in need. I love what they are doing and I love wearing their tees while they do it Mostly, I love that part of my purchase helps to change the world, one tee at a time!

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Samaritan’s Purse offers a wonderful option in their gift catalog. You can purchase a gift of an animal for food, clothing and education for a family or child in need in a foreign country.

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This year, the kids and I looked over the hundreds of children that are currently in the Compassion Sponsorship program, and we all chose our first compassion child, Oscar. The kids are very excited to learn about Oscar and to pray for him. Sponsoring through Compassion will help Oscar to learn about God and the bible, provide medical check-ups, nutritional food , tutoring, school uniforms and more.

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Walk In Love is a company whose message I love. They have great t-shirts with wonderful messages and, well, again, I just love the message they send” Walk In Love. If anything, it’s a little reminder for me as I go about my day.

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Clean water means a brighter future, less disease…Hope. For a gift as small as $25, you help give the gift of life and growth by giving them clean water. Water.org helps you do just that by offering many different ways you can contribute, weather just a donation or purchasing a water bottle or t-shirt.

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This summer I bought a watch from Hello Somebody. It’s light blue and stands out. It’s an eye-catcher. But what’s more is that it’s an opportunity to talk about this organization and what purchasing the watch actually did: Feed people! Hello Somebody’s mission is this: Hello Somebody exists to feed and educate children, by providing an avenue of knowledge, in order to break the cycle of poverty and hunger within their generation. You can purchase t-shirts, watches, hoodies and more and while you do, you help to feed people.

So, that’s my list. I hope you take the time to look at and perhaps purchase one thing from at least one of these stores!

Care to share any organizations or charities that you contribute to? I’m always on the lookout!

kids cows & cancer | houston children’s photography

Christie Lacy Photography — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:20:07 +0000

One of the most important things I’ve learned as a photographer is that my photos make a difference. But even more important is that I use this gift to make a difference, to show people what’s going on outside our little boxes. As I grow as a photographer, the draw to capture raw and real and important issues grows in me.

Last week I was lucky enough to be asked to accompany the Layla Grace Foundation on a trip to Texas Children’s Hosptal. Together with Cypress’s Chick-Fil-A team of managers and cows, we walked the halls and campus of the hospital bring joy to everyone we met. It was such a blessing to see honest joy from children and their parents as we walked around taking photos and passing out goodies. Even more of a blessing to sit and chat and give some of these kids (the older ones especially) someone to talk to, to have a sense of normalcy. Most of these kids live in the hospital sometimes weeks at a time and the only people they talk to are their families and nurses. The first boy I met was probably around 15 or 16, wasn’t feeling well at all, but just wanted someone there with him. This was one of the best days I’ve ever had and I want to go back and just hang out.

Here are a few photos from our trip. You can see the rest here.

a walk in the woods | Houston Christmas Photos

Christie Lacy Photography — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 03:40:59 +0000

We’d originally scheduled our session sometime in August, but I’m so happy that we ended up moving it to late September. The air may have only been a few degrees cooler, but it felt a LOT cooler. Which is always a plus for family photos in Houston, TX! We had a fantastic time walking through the woods and seeing the nature all around us. And these sweet little girls are gorgeous and so much fun to hang out with!

Mama, sorry your sneak peek has taken so long! It’s been a bit crazy around here this last week, but I do hope you enjoy the photos of your beautiful family below! Thanks so much for supporting Ryan’s Lions!!

a taste of cy-fair benefitting the Layla Grace Children’s Cancer Research Foundation

Christie Lacy Photography — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:27:20 +0000

Whewie! Is that a long title or what?!

If you were in Cypress this weekend, chances are you’d either heard about this wonderful event or you were there eating along side the other attendees. They’re not quite sure yet what the total amount of people who attended is, but let me just tell you, there were a LOT of peeps there! While I was there working as the official photographer for the Layla Grace Children’s Cancer Research Foundation, I have to say it was a great success! So many wonderful local businesses came out to show support and showcased their products and the restaurants provided some great tastes for folks to try. The silent auction and raffle items were amazing! Cypress is a great place to be when you have people that are so willing to help a cause such as this! Can’t wait for next year’s event! Here are a few photos from the day…

A Taste of Cy-Fair | Cy-Fair Family Photographer

Christie Lacy Photography — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 01:53:11 +0000

If you’re local, I’m sure you’ve been hearing about this wonderful event to help benefit the Layla Grace Children’s Cancer Research Foundation. This is the first event hosted by the foundation and they are so excited about all of the wonderful locals that are participating! From restaurants to crafters and everything in-between, this event is going to be huge! Check here to see all of the people and business’ participating!

Alongside the many people helping to benefit the foundation, I am offering up a fabulous raffle item

Want to pre-purchase some raffle tickets before the event? Click the boxes below to choose the amount of tickets you’d like to purchase and your raffle stubbs will be mailed directly to you!

party time!

Christie Lacy Photography — Mon, 03 May 2010 22:20:28 +0000

Oi vey! Coming home from a few days off to loads of emails, piles of edits and overdue sneak peeks has left me feeling a little out of sorts! I had a wonderful time though, visiting my sweet new nephew who I’ll be sharing photos of soon (as soon as I get caught up on all the others!). I also got to spend time with my sisters and family. I miss them so! I never realized how difficult it would be to have them in different states! But we’re visiting again in a few months for our summer vacay!

Ok, so on to this sneak. I know you parents have been waiting ever so patiently! Thanks so much! And thank you so much for participating in this event! I hope that you are willing to do it again next year! This was a great first run, but we learned a lot of things that we need to implement! Thanks also to the amazing photographers who participated in the event! If you haven’t yet heard of this amazing effort, please take a look at http://www.PartyForLayla.com! We’re hoping to get a few photos from each photographer up soon!

In the meantime, here are a few sneaks of mine!

♥ this place

Christie Lacy Photography — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:33:06 +0000

I have to admit, when I first moved to Houston, I was intimidated.

I grew up in a small tourist town in Northern Arizona whose non-seasonal population was around 7500 at the time (I have heard that it’s since gone down from that!). Everyone knew everyone and everyone knew everyone’s business. I grew up with boys and girls from pre-school to high school and many of them were in my classes throughout my entire schooling. My father was on the fire department and so I had 30 extra dads to keep an eye out for me (and I still managed to get into trouble!). We had 3 stop lights and one of the most exciting things I remember was that we got a Wal-Mart (albeit, a Wal-Mart that obviously got all the leftovers from all the other Wal-Marts, but hey, beggers can’t be choosers. All I can say is thank goodness for Target!!). We were limited to restaurants and they came and went throughout the 17 years that I lived there. When I became a teen, I couldn’t wait to get out of that place. It was a great place to raise kids, don’t get me wrong, but there was just nothing for you there if you had bigger and better aspirations than working at the local Wal-Mart.

So, when I moved here when I was 19, yeah, I was intimidated. Intimidated with the big bad freeways (and learning to use that little Texas U-turn!), with the cowboys, with not knowing a single soul (I later found out that my great aunt and cousins live here! yay for family!). I went straight to work and back and stayed home and didn’t drive as much as possible. A few years later, my husband and I bought our first home. I fell in love with my neighbors (some of who’ve moved on and some who are still here) and started getting involved a bit more with mommy groups and other social activities.

I’m happy to say that while I love the idea of moving to different places (I think that is the exploring nature in me) and experiencing new towns and cities, Houston doesn’t intimidate me any longer. And right now, I can’t imagine living anywhere but Cypress. I have made great friends here, have a wonderful new home church and have the best clients ever.

Ok, so this is a long walk down memory lane, yeah? The point of all of this is that I have been blessed to find such wonderful people here in Cypress that are willing to give and give BIG. People open their hearts for others and want to be a part of the love of giving. Here are a few events coming up where people are raising funds to support local families and their causes. If you are in this area, please consider stopping by one of these events to help raise awareness for these causes!

And my own personal project,

http://www.PartyForLayla.com

This is an amazing opportunity. 10 + photographers giving their time and talent to raise awareness and funds for the Layla Grace Foundation.

This event is scheduled for April 18th (next Sunday!!) so if you’re interested, contact info@partyforlayla.com

Ryan’s Lyons | Houston Charitable Photographers

Christie Lacy Photography — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:53:09 +0000

I met this sweet guy over a year ago and I can’t believe how much he’s grown! His mom recently hosted a Mini Session event to benefit the family of sweet Layla Grace and told me that it’s time again. Time to champion around Ryan and raise awareness and funds to benefit the Houston Epilepsy Foundation in his honor. Why am I blogging this? Well, for one, I love my clients and I love that they choose me to photograph them. Two, I wish every single child was healthy and disease free and when a client asks me to help, I jump in any way I can. So, take a look at the flyer below and if you’re out and about in Cypress this evening, take a stop over at d’vine wine bar at Skinner and 290 for a relaxing glass of their best merlot (or what ever your fancy is!). And me? I’m donating a free session for the raffle drawing! D’vine is giving back to Ryan’s team and you can be a part of it!!

You Are Amazing | Houston Children’s and Family Photographer

Christie Lacy Photography — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:18:51 +0000

Wow. I am beyond humbled. I went to bed last night and woke up with over 40 inquiries of people wanting to host a Party for Layla. You, my friends, are amazingly generous and you inspire me!

I can’t thank you all enough for your interest in hosting or participating in these events. I am still trying to find dates for April. I just wish I could take all of your offers. Unfortunately, I don’t know if I will be able to accomodate all of you who’ve inquired. Once the dates are available, I will contact you in the order that you inquired/commented. If one can not make the date work, I will then go to the next person.

If you would like to book a full session, I will donate $40 of the Creative Fee to the Marsh Family and offer you a 10% discount on your final order. This offer is valid for any sessions booked between now and March 31. Please contact me using the Contact Form in the menu at the top of this page! Thank you so much!

Parties {for Layla} | Houston Portrait Photographer

Christie Lacy Photography — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:07:24 +0000

**UPDATE**

For more information, please visit http://www.partyforlayla.com

Thank you so so much for your response and support!

It’s amazing how many hearts this little soul has captured; how many people she’s never met are meeting God for her; some for the first time.

I’ve been searching my heart trying to find more ways that I can help her and her family. I’ve been trying to find out a way that you, my friends & followers (and Layla’s Prayer warriors), can benefit but also a way that I can give back to Layla’s family and help them on their journey. I’ve finally settled on Limited Time Portrait Parties for Layla; Limited Portrait parties (mini sessions) that are at a super low cost to you. My prices will never be this low again and will only be this low when you book these limited events. Currently I have 3 events available for March and am working on my April calendar as we speak.

For more information on how portrait parties work, please see this link!