KWCH - Kansas News and Weather - Photographers Volunteer Time to Rebuild Greensburg Memories

Photographers Volunteer Time to Rebuild Greensburg Memories

(GREENSBURG, Kan.)

They lost everything. People living in the Kiowa County town of Greensburg are busy rebuilding homes and businesses, two and half years after a tornado destroyed the town.

But there are things that can never truly be replaced. That's why a pair of photographers from half way across the country are using what they know to try and help.

On the steps of their brand new home, Marion and Ella Mae Marrs are making new memories. "First new home I've ever had. I've owned several homes but this is the first new one."

A May 2007 tornado left their old home heavily damaged, and several of their wedding pictures in similar condition.

It's stories like theirs that have brought photographers Brad Allen and John Powell all the way from South Carolina to Greensburg, Kansas.

Allen tells Eyewitness News, "I can't build houses. I don't have an extra four thousand cans of food or anything, but this is one thing I can kind of do ok. So, I thought that would be a way to sort of give something back to people."

Allen is the force behind the Family Photo Project, a new non profit program that retakes family pictures for victims of disasters free of charge.

"I've watched some of the TV shows about what they went through here and these are some pretty deserving people so it's just kind of nice to get to meet them and do something for them."

The program also reaches out to those helping the community move forward, like the Kyles.  Natives of the area, Kari, her husband and son, just recently moved back to Greensburg to open a coffee shop and have very few pictures to show for their own new beginning.

"This will probably be one of our first official family portraits for us here in Greenburg, so that's significant to us," explains Kari. 

Allen and Powell say it's amazing what a simple picture can do for someone, especially someone who knows what it's like to lose the pictures you once had.

"We can't, I guess, replace the ones they've lost but we can kind of help them to restart that collection again."

Allen and Powell will be taking pictures through Saturday evening and are planning several trips backs to Greensburg. Click here for more information on donating to the project or to schedule a photo shoot.