TAMMY GOULD
In the fall of 2008 i received an e-mail from Tammy Gould from Otterville, Ontario.
Tammy was looking for a way to show support for our troops and she happened upon the HeroToHero.US website.
She had previously worked as a 911 dispatcher for 28 years with the Tillsonburg Police Service (which later became the Oxford O.P.P. detatchment).
Tammy knew right away she had something to contribute to our troop morale campaign.
Tammy has been very busy contacting all the first responders in Oxford County (Ontario) and has so far recruited six Police and Fire Depts., including the O.P.P. Golden Helmets Precision Motorcycle Team, to support our troops through Hero To Hero Team Canada.
Tammy is presently working for the Woodstock Credit Bureau but her passion is photography.
For the last 8 years she has run a successful photography business "Tammy Gould Photography".
In November Tammy called and asked me if i thought the military families who have a deployed family member would be interested in having a Christmas photo taken to send to their deployed loved ones.
We put her in touch with Bev Robbins at the London Military Family Resource Centre (LMFRC) in London, Ontario. Bev arranged for Tammy to photograph the families of over 40 deployed troops from S.W. Ontario. Tammy travelled to Windsor, London, Cambridge and Hamilton to photograph the families at the MFRC's in each city.
I travelled to Windsor to meet Tammy and take some pictures of her taking the family portraits.
I wanted to tell her story. Maybe someone else will see this and run with Tammy's idea in other parts of the country.
Even though the LMFRC offered to help with the travel costs,Tammy paid all her own expenses and donated the pictures to all the families.
This was something she wanted to contribute to the troops and their families.
I know the families were very appreciative of Tammy's efforts.
Many of the families have made a point of inviting Tammy to their events, including troop homecomings. I know that means a lot to Tammy.
To see the photo's of Tammy taking her portraits, click on our photo gallery from the homepage or click here... herotoheroteamcanada.smugmug.com/Troop%20Support
All the photo's are posted here with the families permission.
Keep in mind the majority of these photos are my behind the scenes snapshots.
The last 10 pictures are a sampling of Tammy's professional finished photos which the families received.
One of the neat things Tammy did was have the family members hold a glass globe while gazing into it.
Tammy then took a photo of the deployed troop that was provided by the family and she photo shopped the troops photo into the globe.
Tammy has worked tirelessly to promote Hero To Hero and generate shirts for our troops.
She has also introduced many other folks to our program who are offering their support. There will be more about that in the near future.
Tammy's website is presently under construction but here is the link.... http://www.tammygouldphotography.com/
We can't thank Tammy enough for all that she has done and continues to do to support our troops through Hero To Hero.
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