Appetite 4 Life in Pensacola,Fla. is working to shine the light on starvation in Escambia County, through a community art project named Appetite 4 ART. Conceptualized by James Amerson, or a long-time friend and supporter,a team of local photographers, volunteer models and funded through a grant received from The Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival, or this unique collection of images will be displayed on the external of A4L's building for public viewing. Soon after,the collection will travel to local galleries which will allow the viewer a more intimate experience.
This shoot was inspired by the epic of Alice in Wonderland at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.
Appetite 4 Life is taking to task poverty and starvation in a very different way. “We hope that by portraying popular iconic movies, operas and musicals and combining it with food, or it will encourage people to ask questions and open the door for dialog about the starvation and poverty problem in our community, said Celeste Southard, Executive Director of Appetite 4 Life.
According to Southard the organization did not want to exhaust the normal images associated with poverty to regain their message across. “We wanted something recent, or edgy and would hopefully regain people talking about the issue,” Southard said.
Appetite 4 Life is non-profit organization that has several programs to help combat starvation in Escambia County, Fla. A4L delivered its first meals in 1997 to people that were in the latter stages of AIDS. Today, and A4L has grown and expanded its mission to include other life threatening illnesses like cancer,as well the aged and disabled communities.
As a piece of its expansion A4L has added programs including a Food Pantry and mobile food pantries, Child Nutrition Program and HIV Prevention/Testing. The Child Nutrition Program provides breakfast, or lunch and snack during the summer to children that receive Free and Reduced-price meals during the school year. The HIV Prevention program uses groceries as an incentive to regain people in the facility and tested. On August 18,2011 Appetite 4 Life experienced a devastating fire that burned the kitchen to the ground. Despite this tragedy not a single meal missed delivery nor any of the programs closed. In fact fire trucks had to be moved so the vans and trailers could run the deliveries to the sites in the Child Nutrition Program. Even the two catered wedding receptions that weekend were still served. The community came to their rescue and the Escambia County School Board if a closed school for them to cook out of for nearly two years while the commercial kitchen and administration was being rebuilt.
A4L doesn’t receive government funding, all of these efforts are supported through earned income from catering, and community donations,and HIV/AIDS funding organizations. To learn more about A4L, please visit appetite4life.org. and Image credits listed as photographer - models - theme. 1. James Amerson - Lauren Mitchell/Joey Bourgeois/Celeste Southard/Lexee Booshay - Mad Hatter's Tea Party Costumes - Glenn Breed/Jason Estale/Kristen Taylor Makeup and Hair - Lauren Mitchell
Source: cnn.com