This episode has been transcribed using Temi.com
Hannah
Welcome Ceallaigh. Thank you for being with us on the podcast today. I am really interested to hear the story behind Print the Love and how you got the idea and just kind of what you’re doing all around the world and I’m really excited to speak with you today, but before we kind of dive into all those details, can we just back up and have you share a little bit about yourself and how you got the idea for print the love.
Ceallaigh
Yeah. Well, thank you so, so much for having me. This is a lot, a lot of fun for me, so I really appreciate it. So, a little bit about me, I live in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. I have two wonderful kids. They’re a boy and girl, ages nine and 12 and married to my husband and we have a little rescue dog. I also have a full time job as a philanthropy director, at another nonprofit here in the Twin Cities and Print the Love is my passion project that I’ve been working on for about four and a half years now. So we’re going to celebrate our fifth anniversary in the fall and it’s come out of kind of two different areas of my life. So, I’ll try to keep it short here. I did a lot of nonprofit travel with different organizations doing a lot of logistics overseas, mostly in Africa.
And I would do travel arrangements like hotel and translation and transportation. And while the guests were doing various different conferences and leadership talks and things, I would be in the streets taking pictures of the kids. I am not a photographer, I’m just an avid traveler and lover of people. And this is back before phones actually. And I would take pictures with my digital camera and of course all the kids just wanted to see the back of the camera and see the picture of themselves with their friend being silly. And it was just so much fun. And I asked them, I said, do you have any pictures? And of course they didn’t. And I’m thinking, why in the world do I have this photo? I’m going to go home and it’ll be great. But you know, you should have this photo.
So I’ve been in the nonprofit world for over 20 years now and I was thinking, okay, I have another contract where I’m going to come back to. And at that time I was in Rwanda and so, well I’m going to bring a Polaroid camera and give them some photos. I think they still make Polaroids or something like that. So, I actually went home from that first trip when I started asking the kids, you know, do you have any pictures? And I was like, well, someone’s doing this work. Someone’s maybe going to have a camera I could use or borrow and I could find nobody doing anything like this. There was kind of some individual blog posts about people giving photos, which was really cool. Or people making photo books for AIDS patients. But they had spent the whole week with them and I was thinking much more of a random act of kindness on the street or, you know, visiting a school or a hospital or something like that.
And I could find nobody doing this. And so I was like, well, you know, I already have the trip, my travel plans paid for. So how about I do some crowdfunding just for the film and camera. And so I crowd funded for a thousand pieces of film that I was going to give away in 10 days. This was kind of my vision and I raised the money super, super fast. People were super fascinated by this idea and loved it that they couldn’t even imagine like myself, never having a photo of yourself, your grandma, your mom, um, my babies, my children, you know, so we take it so much for granted and it is really is a luxury that many, many people in this world don’t have and would love a picture of their loved ones or themselves when they were being a silly third grade, like those kids on the street that I was talking to. So that’s kinda one piece of it. But the other piece at that time when I was traveling to Rwanda, I was in a horrible, abusive marriage at the time. And it was actually the only time that I didn’t have a panic attack and was able to kind of take a respite by traveling overseas for this job and just fell in love with Rwanda at that time. And when your life is kind of in chaos and we can go a little bit more down that rabbit hole. But, my life was in chaos. I didn’t know kind of what was happening. There was infidelity. I had two very young children at the time and just kind of didn’t know which way was up. And I was like, this is not the world I want to be a part of. I want to be a part of a world where we lift each other up.
Whereas at home I was being told I was a horrible mother and a horrible wife and it just, I was a nobody. And, so I kinda went to the simplest thing possible in terms of saying, you know, I can give someone a photo. Right? I have very little emotional energy. I’m kind of beat to the bone, but I’m here in this place. And I’m thinking, you know, I can give you a photo, I can, I can do that. And that really simple gift I learned was, uh, super profound. I just wanted to tell people that they matter. And I wanted to live in a world where that was important. And when I was able to go back to Rwanda the next year with my a thousand pieces of film that people had helped me with, um, and a camera to just experience what it was like to give someone a photo, I, I describe it still even people that travel with us and we can talk about that later, how this is progressed into a nonprofit. It is really, really meaningful to someone who’s never had that in the power of image and how it can really say that you’ve met her. I just fell in love with this work in love with traveling, getting outside of your own bubble, but also just my way to counteract the horrible things that were happening to me at home in, in some way. And it was very healing for me.
Nicole
That was so wonderful and, and that’s exactly right. We just take the idea of taking pictures and having images of our loved ones. So for granted and when I first found out about your nonprofit, it just kinda like hit me like, oh I haven’t never even thought about that before. But it’s so true. I bet there’s so many people around the world that don’t have this luxury in it. It never occurred to me. It was so surprising.
Ceallaigh
Right. Cause you, you know, people that don’t know their grandkids, you know their grandparents or relatives that have passed on before and they don’t have any way to see photos of them or when your child’s first born, like any baby pictures or anything like that. Yeah. It’s just unbelievable how, how much we, yeah, we take that for granted. I, I, same with Nicole. I just couldn’t believe that I, that I didn’t even think of that, that people don’t have photos and how much that can change their whole lives. So do you travel to Rwanda typically the same? Like, is that the same place that you go to or what kind of places do you usually travel to now to take photos?
Yeah, so since that initial trip I saw again how amazing this was and that no one else was doing this work. So I did decide to form a nonprofit, get a board and together as a board kind of looking at this, um, mission of celebrating people where they’re at with a gift of a photograph. Um, we decided to really focus on schools because kids don’t have school pictures, they don’t have anything like that. Uh, hospitals. So we go to maternity wards, um, where there is the new babies, which is so fun. But also we go to hospice care, which is really meaningful cause the people that are passing away would like their family to remember them. Um, and then we also go to, to slum or ghetto areas, um, and neighborhoods and um, kind of made those, our focus. And then also we decided, so I haven’t been back to Rwanda since we, we kind of made decision to visit every continent and the poorest countries on each continent.
And that can look a million different ways. You know, you can Google the poorest countries in Africa. Um, and it can be just a various different kinds of lists of what that means. But we also take lots of other things into consideration. Obviously travel costs, safety for participants, um, other kinds of things like that. But we’ve been to many continents and that’s kind of our goal to keep going. We’ve never been back to the same place twice. Um, sometimes I kick myself a little bit for that cause I’m like, you know, uh, actually two months ago we just got back from Zimbabwe in November and, um, it was fabulous. And now we have all these amazing people we met and amazing connections and we’re not going back there anytime soon, so we might start doing that for sure. Um, but our next trip is actually to the Solomon Islands, which, um, is outside of Papa new Guinea.
And, um, so we’ve traveled to quite a number of countries with teams that come with us that want to do this work with us. And it’s a, you know, six in the morning till 10 at night kind of job. But we also started a program called supply the love. And that program was kinda designed as something that I wanted. So we, you can just apply on our website. There’s just a quick form. You can borrow a camera and we will give you film. And if you are participating in any other organizational trip or even a personal trip to a developing country, um, and we can give you film and a camera. And through that program we have been to over five continents and I think about 20 countries. We just got another one today, so I have to count that. But, um, that has been huge and so much fun to see all the places that the camera and film have gone.
So we’ve worked with dental missions meant medical missions, building homes, um, working in, you know, education with Fulbright, um, scholars. We’ve done things with, you know, just lots of different people who have taken these cameras with them to enhance the work that they’re already doing. And even though I’m not going on these trips and I just feel like a little part of me gets to go to all these places and do these incredible pieces of work to just, you know, imagine that you just got a brand new house built for you in Guatemala and you get to have a picture of that with your family to remember that incredible day when, when that happened or when a well was made or when a S uh, you know, school was, was gifted books or, um, when someone, um, had a surgery or, you know, so it’s just, it’s, that’s been really, really fun too.
Hannah
Wow. I, I can’t imagine how many stories that you have from all these journey and saw all around the world and just the people that you’ve met and the things you’ve seen. What is the typical responses that you get from people when you ask to take a photo of them? Do they feel a little uncomfortable or are they really a welcoming or what is kind of the overall vibe when that happens?
Ceallaigh
Yeah. So a typical experience of someone encountering a tourist from America is that they’re going to be exploited, that they’re going to, their pictures are going to be taken and put on Facebook or sold in a book or something like that. And so when we say, can we take a picture? Um, it’s usually, no, no, no, no, we don’t, you know, no. Um, and when we flip it around and are able to say, no, we want to give you a photo, we don’t keep any copies. And that’s very adamant. Um, part of our work is we don’t keep any copies. We don’t keep digital copies. Anything that is 100%, the photo is for them. Um, it is a lights up and the, I’ve never had a photo of my family. I’ve never had a photo with my boyfriend. I’ve never had a photo with my kid. And just, um, amazing. And you know, even just when we went to Zimbabwe, we were in a neighborhood and we started giving away photos. Also. We bring examples so that they understand and we do have, we always travel with translators and um, you know, say this is what we’re talking about. And as soon as that little flame goes, we had lines and lines of people bringing babies out of, you know, apartments and homes and people coming in wheelchairs because they wanted their grandma or grandpa and family photos.
And, um, sometimes though it does become too much and we do have to put the cameras away. Um, which is unfortunate, but it just becomes too much of a mock up and there’s just so many lines and lines and lines of people. Um, but the response is incredible and um, you know, people’s, you’ll definitely see the kids try to sneak back in line and get a second or a third or fourth, you know, and we say only one just so that it’s fair for everyone. But that’s sometimes the hardest part is saying no, only one picture per person. Cause we can only carry so much film with us when we go to different communities.
Nicole
Yeah. Is this all Polaroid cameras or how are you developing the pictures?
Ceallaigh
Yup. So it’s like Polaroid, but we use Fuji, um, cameras. Um, I can definitely, if they’re called Fuji wide, 300. Um, so far it’s the best quality and size that I have been able to find. Um, also we’re traveling to remote areas where there’s not electricity and they run on, um, AA batteries, which a lot of other cameras these days you have to plug in for two hours or, and we don’t usually have electricity at night when we’re sleeping. So, um, we can get about 1500 pictures per four AA batteries, which is incredible. Um, yeah. And then we also, we give sleeves. Um, we have an amazing partnership with ultra pro and they give us protective sleeves for all the photos that kind of act like a little frame but protect from UV and dust and water and all that stuff so that it can hopefully last a really long time. Um, cause when I first went to Rwanda and I handed the photos to, you know, a little two, three year old and we were like seeing it crumble, I’m like, no, I want that to last till you’re an old, you know, a woman. So, um, then we figured out a way to be able to carry kind of frames with us so that everyone can have that.
Nicole
Yeah. I just love this so much. This is just so inspiring and really interesting. So amazing work. Um, but I’m wondering, so you mentioned you travel with a team. Can you talk a little bit more about one kind of how this nonprofit has grown into what it is today and also talk about how people can come on these trips or what do you mean by team?
Ceallaigh
Yeah, for sure. So we do have an application process and all the trip information is on the website. On our trips page. We have multiple trips going out about four or five years. Cause some people like to sign up a couple of years out to save up or, you know, take time off work. Um, we’re going to be continually adding trips because the need is there and people really want to travel with us and we’re growing a group of leaders, um, because we require that people go on the trip with us before they can lead a trip. And, um, so there is an application on there and I’m happy to meet with anyone or talk to anyone that’s interested in a specific trip. Obviously every area is different in different people groups. Um, but the reaction is the same everywhere we go. That’s the really cool part is every place we’ve been through reaction is the same and photo is actually photo and every language.
So, um, so yeah, we, we build a team. We do keep our teams really small, um, per leader. So I won’t bring more than six people with one leader. Sometimes we can have two liters and stay in the same. Um, we usually stay in homestays or hostels and we really tried to stay connected to the communities. We sort of avoid tourist areas. So if you’re looking for something like that, that’s not what we’re about. Um, we’re definitely on the other end of traveling and being really with the people. Um, so we do keep our groups really small because think about how intimidating it would be to go into a hospital room with, you know, 25 adults like that. That’s just not what we want to be more incognito and really be about this random act of kindness. And so, um, we, we do keep our groups small and, and we do like to be pretty, um, able to move quickly. This is, you know, in developing things change quickly and schools can close in a day or we had an appointment at a hospital and now the staff in shop to walk us around or, you know, so for us to jump into taxis and kind of move as a group quickly, you know, we’re not a tour group, we’re not, so we, yeah, we do. We keep a smaller, tight knit groups to do this kind of really personal work. And how long
Hannah
How long do these visits usually last? Are they there for like a week or two weeks or how long do they usually go for?
Ceallaigh
Yeah. So for the most part we’ve done two weeks and that’s really because the places that we’ve traveled to are take about two to three days to get there. And um, so you don’t want to go to Cambodia and just have spent 36 hours on the plane to only spend 36 hours and a half to turn around. So, um, as we start developing more trips to possibly closer central America, um, they might be a little less, but just to really fully experience the country and we do experience, we move every two days and really try to cover a huge portion of the country in different rural city, you know, kind of experience all of those things. It does take a kind of a full two weeks, but we’re going to have lots of different opportunities as we grow to maybe do a shorter trip. Cause I know people, they’re like, Kelly, can you please just do a five days so I can come and experience it? And I’m like, I’m trying. So we’re going to, we’re going to make that work too.
Hannah
Yeah, that would be a fantastic opportunity. I, I can’t imagine, imagine you must just come back from a trip like that just completely changed and just appreciate everything that you have. And I know that you mentioned that you don’t return back to the places that you’ve been. Um, you try and, you know, spread out to all the different countries. But do you hear feedback afterwards, like when you’ve returned from, you know, the hospitals or whatever w what do you usually hear after you’ve gone to a place like that? What is the normal feedback that you receive?
Ceallaigh
Yeah. Um, we don’t usually have longterm relationships with any of those so far are um, we are looking at maybe how we can evaluate longterm, but also when you’re face to face with somebody you can just feel the impact on them. But, um, we usually work with a lot of NGOs that are already doing group work on the ground. So we do check back with them on various levels. Like, um, there are certain people that are working at a school. We do have their email contact and we do try to either tag them on Instagram or you know, if they have, um, if they’re doing their own work to really promote what they’re doing and get feedback from them and say, thank you so much for inviting us and bringing us up into this rural village. So we, we really don’t try to do a lot of things on our own.
We want to work with the local people that are already doing work there. Um, and the feedback is always incredible. You know, we’ve talked to principals and directors saying you brought so much love and joy to the kids. They’ve never had something like this and this is like a gold to them. Um, we even visited a blind school in Nepal, which was incredible. They asked us, they heard about us in town and they wanted us to come because they wanted to. It was a boarding school. So they spent the week at school and then on the weekends they went home. They wanted to have something tactile, a picture of themselves that they could give to their families. And that was so incredibly touching to me that it was, we’re such a visual nonprofit and yet here are children in a blind school that wanted one so badly to invite us and then they sing and dance for us.
And we’re able to take those, um, pictures home to their parents, which I’m sure was such a treasure. I don’t have anecdotal, um, you know, quotes on that, but I can just imagine the joy in the parents’ faces. And so, um, yeah, it is a little tricky with that in terms of where, where we can connect with people longterm. Now I’m still friends with people on Facebook or friends with people on WhatsApp and we, you know, we’ll message each other a couple of years later and that kind of stuff. But how can we build longterm partnerships? Um, we’re only four years old, so we’re, we’re growing in that area too.
Nicole
Right. And how has your team grown since the, since the beginning? How many people do you have working with you or, um, what is your nonprofit look like?
Ceallaigh
Yep. So we’re all volunteers at this point. Um, we, so again, it was just me in the beginning.
We had a board, I think of about five to start with and now we’ve grown to a board of nine. And, um, the board is really a working board because we don’t have any staff and it’s just incredible. We also have a lot of interns that work with us and they have been amazing. So, um, we’ve had, you know, a dozen or so interns over the last couple of years who’s done really great work for us and has been really fun for them and they’ve traveled with us, some of them. And it’s all that, that’s just been really fun. So, and a lot of volunteers, so we’ve had volunteers come in, but, um, the, the board, um, and myself and the interns have kind of helped it to grow.
Nicole
And you’re managing all this with a full time job still? You mentioned you work.
Ceallaigh
Um, yes. So I have a full time job.
Yup. And some kids and family and friends. And so yes, we, we kind of are at a tipping point where, um, you know, how are we going to continue to grow because lots of people continue to hear about us and people overseas have started to hear about us and want us to come visit their communities. And so it keeps growing and growing. And so the capacity of staff and volunteers, um, you know, kind of making the switch to how, you know, the more we’re able to pour into it, the more we can get out to it and offer more trips. And so we are at a really exciting point for all entrepreneurs out there who I, who know what I’m talking about. When you kinda turn your passion project into your full time job, there’s always that, you know, kind of in between stage of those. Um, it’s not scary but exciting and a little bit scary.
Nicole
Yeah. Well, I’m so glad we found you and that you can be on our podcast. We can get the word out like even further.
Ceallaigh
Yes. Thank you so much. Yes, I really appreciate it.
Nicole
What kind of things have like really surprised you or challenged you through this whole process with your travels and building this business?
Ceallaigh
That’s really surprised me. Um, yeah, I, I think I’m surprised by the simplicity of the mission and I shouldn’t be, but I think it just, again, like the older you get, how the just things work out. And if I had been 25 and had this idea, I probably would’ve over-thought everything and like made it more and we got to do all this stuff and you know, just like just over-thought everything. But because of the timing in my life, it has really stretched me to a ask for help because I also have PTSD from the abuse and I can’t do it all. And, and so to really reach out, instead of trying to do everything myself and really keep to the simplicity of the mission of we just give photos and I know that sounds, some people are like, you just give photos. And I’m like, it is, it is profound.
And I think that that’s why so many people that I talk to gravitate towards the mission. Cause it isn’t, it isn’t complicated. It’s, it’s just you can love people in a million different ways. And this is just one way that I’ve chosen to show love to the world. And it’s, it’s really that simple. You know, I just, I’ve talked to some other entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs and, um, who like have started different things like in the middle of the worst possible time in their life. It’s like my life is falling apart. I know I’m going to start a nonprofit. It’s going to be a great time, you know? And so I’ve been surprised that it’s, it’s worked so well because I’ve given so much of it in a way, it’s like the opposite. Like we got to do everything and it’s, it’s because I haven’t had such a grip on it and that’s probably what I had to learn for myself as a, as a entrepreneur. And, um, it was really kind of what pulled me out of the darkness too. It was like something to hope for and something that I could make a difference in. And just seeing now all these other people take the mission on for themselves and talk about their experience in Zimbabwe and their experience in Bolivia and Cambodia and that they’re owning it and then it’s not about me has been really, really refreshing and not what I expected.
Hannah
Yeah, it all started with just taking someone’s photo. Like it really is as simple as that. Like it just kind of makes you think about you just your day to day life. Like how easy it is to just give kindness to others. Like we really are overthinking it in so many ways of our life and how does to give kindness and it just really hits me. And when, when you’re talking about this that you know, we can just give someone a smile or just, I don’t know, there’s just such smaller, simple ways that we can really spread kindness and yours is just becoming now a global way to spread kindness despite taking a photo. And it’s just amazing how much this has grown. Do you have people now reaching out to you, requesting for you to come to their village or city or how do you pick this specific city or town to go to in each of these countries?
Ceallaigh
Yeah, that’s a good question. It’s, um, it’s really more of an art than a science and it, um, gosh, every country is different because it’s just takes a lot of research and also who’s doing work on the ground already. So connections with NGOs, um, different villages, maybe there is a refugee camp in a certain area of the country, um, that I feel like we could make a difference or a hospital that was requesting that we come a rural village. Um, so, and also balancing different parts of people’s lives. Um, like I said, rural and urban and suburban and that looks different. So yeah, it’s really more about the people I meet and the people encounter online and the connections that I already have, which have really built a network of people. You know, they hear about us and they’re like, I mean, literally just today, I got an email from someone I met last week who says there’s amazing woman in India, which we’re going to next year, who would be a great connection for you.
So I’m like, well you, it’s all these things does kind of fall in, fall into place in an amazing way. And I’m always get a little stressed out cause I’m a planner, you know, um, what do you know, where are we going to go? Where are we going to meet? And it always works out. Um, it’s, it’s just amazing how those, those things kind of fall into place. And also, I, I also leave quite a number of, um, days open, which may seem a little weird. We, we’d have areas that we’re going to go to, but just like, if you would come to Minneapolis, I could tell you, Oh, here’s a great restaurant. Oh, and let me introduce you to my brother because he can take you to this great park. Or, you know, just like, you know, when you visit a town. So we’d go to these towns and talk to all these people in their homes, in their neighborhoods.
They’re inviting us and trusting us. And when you start conversing and talking about them and their families and they’re like, Oh my gosh, will you please go visit my uncle over in the next town? You know, when you go over there tomorrow or I know a doctor in the, you know, in the hospital up on the Hill, let’s go talk to him, you know, so it actually is better if I don’t plan very much because the people there want so much to provide this for their friends and family or give suggestions of really great places or people for us to meet. And that’s also the fun and beauty and adventure. So this is really for adventure. People who, who don’t, you know, don’t want a 9:00 AM, this is the exact schedule, 10:00 AM this is, you know, this isn’t an American conference. This is really about being with people and um, honoring them with a photo.
Nicole
You mentioned you’re going to India next year. What other places do you have coming up? What other trips are coming are in the works.
Ceallaigh
Yep. So this year is the Solomon Islands. I think I mentioned that one. Next year is India and the India India trip is going to look a little bit different than our traditional trips. Um, we are partnering with an organization called peak Institute and they do a lot of peace building work out of the UN. And um, we are partnering that with them to build a trip that not only gives away photos but also does peace-building work and it is going to be the most amazing trip. I just, it’s going to be so exciting. Um, the founder, Rebecca of that organization and I have become friends and we’re just really excited to put these two together because really what we are doing on the ground is piecework.
They’re ambassadors. We talk about random acts of kindness with the kids in school and say, how do you be kind to others? And, um, what does it mean for us to come and how does it to love others in your neighborhood or even to help your mom with chores when we’re talking to kindergartners. Um, and so we’re, we’re kind of building this India trip as a, um, to look a little bit different. It won’t be 100% giving away photos. It’ll be blended with some peace making. And then we have Haiti Barun days coming up. So another going back to Africa. Um, but we’re also going to be adding quite a number. We have a mom, a parent teenager trip coming up, which I think we’re going to Sierra Leone. We brought a 13 year old, that’s the youngest person I’ve brought. And for someone who is 13, 16, 18, this can change the whole trajection of their life, um, to be exposed to these people in the lives. Um, and it’s something that you can do together as, um, you know, a parent and a teenager. And I’ve had a lot of people ask me, Oh, I want to bring my sophomore, I want to bring, you know, and just have that bonding experience. So we are going to have a special trip for that. So we’ll keep adding more and more as we grow. But those are the ones that are on the official docket and they’re all on our website.
Nicole
So it kinda sounds like your group goes once a year and then there’s other like subgroups through supply, the love that can go kind of on their own. Am I correct?
Ceallaigh
Yeah, so the, so um, we’ve done one to two trips a year, but those that will grow to more like two, three, four in the next two to four years.
Nicole
Okay. As this leader team is built.
Ceallaigh
Yes. Yeah. That’s all a part of this big puzzle and, and yeah, identifying leaders to really know how we do business. I know that’s maybe not the best way to say it, but you know, there’s a way that we really approach working with people in schools and curriculums that we use and just even approaching a neighborhood, you know, there’s a kindness that we want to be. So we do require leaders to come with us at least once and then, and then they can call lead after that.
Hannah
That makes sense for our listeners, for other fellow Minnesota ones that want to help and maybe are not able to take the time off of work to go on one of these trips, how can we help? What other ways can we, you know, help this mission along?
Ceallaigh
Yeah, for sure. We’ll definitely talking about it is helpful on social media or um, just with friends or just I feel like everyone knows a photographer or someone who’s passionate about photography. Um, and again, you don’t have to be a photographer to come, which actually a lot of people like, um, I am not a photographer. I’m a humanitarian. Um, but we definitely, it’s a way that I find a lot of photographers in our community feel like they can give back or give voice to the important work that they do even here. Um, so definitely talking about it. We actually have a couple of events this year that they’re welcome to come. We would love them to come to. So coming up in April, we, this’ll be our third annual random kindness relay. And so going around Minneapolis giving away photos just doesn’t have the same effect as it does in a developing under resource community.
Um, but we wanted to do something here local for our local community. And so we take an action afternoon, it’s a Sunday afternoon and this year we’re going to the Midtown global market and you get a ticket, you can bring a family friend and we give you a little kindness kit. It’s already preassembled with all kinds of things to do. It’s got money in it, it has um, post it notes, it has chalk in it, it has um, um, treats in it, it has diapers in it, has all kinds of things. And then we all go out and do random acts of kindness and then kinda come back and tell some stories and have some treats and there’s some prizes and, and things like that. But it’s just, it’s almost like a simple way to um, invite and show like your kids that this is really easy stuff to do.
Cause I always want to do stuff with my kids and I’m like, Oh, we’re just so busy. This is really a time could take an intentional Sunday afternoon to do random acts of kindness and be like, Oh, I can totally do that. And we have things where you can not talk to people or you can go out to people and give them a flower or we have lots of different options. That sounds amazing. What uh, what, what day is that in April? Just putting it on my calendar here as I talked to you. Yeah, it’s April 26th. So it’s the last one. And again, we’re going to gather it, um, the Midtown global market. We’re going to be in the East Lake brewery and it’s all open. So it’s kind of the open tables there and it is so much fun. People love it and my kids love it and they look forward to it every year.
And the stories people come back with of like, I put a little note in the bathroom or I left, you know, um, a dollar bill in a library book or, you know, it’s just, it’s fun. And, um, there was a really fun thing that happened last year as we left. Uh, we had a young, um, girl give a flower to a woman just walking down the street that said, this is a random act of kindness. Hope you have a wonderful day. You matter. And, um, she posted on social media, Oh my gosh, I got this flower just randomly today. It was really great, but someone knew what we were doing and they said, Hey, that’s print the love you should. So it was a really fun, like really random, like we didn’t know this person and we did get connected with her. So, um, it’s, it’s fun, the story.
So that’s something you can do. And then continuing to do those year round, not just at the relay. Um, and then we have our five year anniversary. Again, this isn’t till October, um, where you can come and hear lots more about us and meet us, but we’re having an incredible speaker. Um, his name is David Guten Felder. He is a national geographic photographer. Um, amazing. He, you know, top 10 photos of 2019 just came out from national geographic and three of them are his, um, he’s got photos in the top hundred photos of influential photos of all time and just an incredible man and the work that he’s done. Um, he’s going to come and speak at our five year anniversary and that’s October 6th. So even just being involved in our community and meeting people, um, those are kind of ways to be involved. We always need volunteers for things and I love to, you know, have people use the gifts that they’re passionate about. So even if they want to email me and say, I love this, you know, how can I help? And I’d be like, what do you like to do? And I hope we can usually find a synergy there where you can help the mission grow and also use your gifts and talents for that.
Hannah
And I’m sure these projects, these trips each year, you know, require funds each year, is there any way that you’re accepting donations from people in Minnesota?
Ceallaigh
Yes, for sure. Yes. So we’re a hundred percent donations. Again, we don’t have any staff, so all of it goes to the program, to the film. Um, all of the participants, they all pay for their own trips and um, or raise their own funds. We have, um, both options. So, but if you want to pay for the film, um, and the cameras that we use that go directly to the participants, we do have a donation page, um, on our website and it’s, it’s hugely helpful and helping us just bring more and more film on the trips. Um, as much as we can bring in our suitcases and fit international, we do cause the film is quite big. Um, but it’s, it’s, it’s fun to leave with lots and lots of film and come back empty handed and count the thousands of pieces of film that we’ve given away.
Nicole
Yeah. Wow. I wish you could see my face cause I have just been like smiling the whole time. You’re talking.
Hannah
Me too. This has been phenomenal and so interesting. And just how you’d turn kind of like a really sour situation and uh, you know, a hurt, some hurt in a painful part of your life into, into this really incredible nonprofit is just really amazing. Are there any, uh, individuals that you met along the way that really stick out to you in this journey that maybe you want to share a little bit about?
Ceallaigh
Yeah, I mean there’s so many stories and, and I just wish we had more time to share all of them on our blogs. And I just, there’s just, that’s why I love to have conversations with people over coffee and stuff. Still say there’s so many stories, but definitely one that has always stuck with me. Um, was the first trip in Rwanda when I fell in love with this work. The children, I love kids cause they love their photos and they’re always the ones that run and get their mom and run and get their best friend and run and get grandma and you know, they’re like, Oh, I gotta do my hair and get in. Were like, of course, take your time, go and get your stuff. You know, we’re a little weighed out here and you, you know, so, um, even people in the most extreme poverty situations you’ve ever seen, um, want to do their hair and look their best, you know.
Um, but there was one gentleman in a really remote village in Rwanda. Um, I didn’t have a translator with me at that time. He was doing something else and so, but obviously a crowd had come around me and everyone was waiting for their photo very nicely and it got to this older gentleman and the older people, I love, love, love, they love photos, they treasure them so much. We’ve gone to nursing homes and they’re just like the best thing. It’s so much fun. But this gentleman, he came up to me, and again, we had no common language, but his smile was so huge. He was so excited. He was obviously a homeless man. Um, it, very few belongings with him and he’s dug in his pocket and he took out two other photos and he’s a pretty distinct looking man. Um, there was obviously photos of him when he was younger.
It looked like maybe he was in the army or something like that. And then another photo and he was showing me like his world treasures. Like he only had two other photos of him and he was so excited to be in line to get his photo. And I don’t know how old he was, he made me look like he was in his seventies and just the joy that no, there was no words spoken and I was so excited for him to add to his collection and he, it was, it was a really cool moment. Um, also share, there’s a time when we were in Nepal and there was a young man, he was probably, I don’t say I’m like, he’s a kid. He was probably like nine or 10. And um, we give photos to all the kids and we say one photo because it’s just not fair.
And if obviously one kid gets two photos and he gets one, you know why? So we always say one photo, one photo, and he kept coming. Please can I have another one? Please? Can I have another one? And I said, no, only one foot do you only get one. And so he followed us down like huge river bank. We gave away a hundreds and hundreds and he followed us all day down this river bank with all these homes that were kind of made out of, um, it’s actually really smart. They made out of billboard material. So it was kind of like that waterproof billboard material and that’s what their homes are made out of. And he kept following us down. He even went back to his home, changed his shirt into like kind of like a little fancier shirt and all the way to the end when we were kind of done and we’re going to go back to our car and he said, please, please.
And just the tenacity that he stuck with us. And I said, okay, of course you can have another one. And he said, I want to give this one to my mom. And it was so beautiful and so wonderful that he came all that way, changed to shirt, just wanted one that he could give to his mom and his in his little home. And so we walked back with them and said, okay, come on, let’s go, let’s go back to your place that you could get another one. So, um, again, I usually not that much of a stickler, but it is kind of really hard when there’s a lot of kids trying to stick to one. Yeah. That’s the hardest. That’s the hardest part about this job. You have to save just one. Um, cause yeah, they just, of course they want more for their friends or you know, and especially teenagers. They want with their best friend, they want with this group, you know, it’s always the little ones that want the soul of pictures and it’s the teenagers that want the group pictures and yeah, just like America.
Hannah
of course. I mean we see teenagers here and even younger with cell phones snapping pictures left and right. So, you know, it’s, it’s the same across across the world. I’m sure. I know I can’t even, I take so many photos every single day. Like I take, I take at least like 20 photos a day, I think. Cause I take a lot with my daycare and my kids and I don’t even, I’ve never once thought about that other people just would give anything and walk all day, you know, to follow you and wait in line for one photo just to, to remember themselves and to, you know, know that they’re there, they matter and it’s just, it’s profound. And I could listen to these stories all day long, all day long.
Ceallaigh
Yes. Well it also serves a greater purpose for just a record of people. Um, you know, and we’ve also heard, um, stories about in terms of just even having a photo of a kid if they were to be lost or um, stolen or something, there would be a record of them as, although that’s a terrible thought. But you know, when you say like, you know, my son, he’s about this big, he looks, you know, it’s like how can we possibly find that child? Whereas this can actually be a huge tool in that. And then, yeah, also like a record of someone being like, you are here on earth, this is a record of you here. And we really take that for granted when there isn’t other records of that. Um, we even met a woman who was, uh, we stayed in a floating village, which if you ever get to opportunity to do that, it was amazing in Cambodia and she was super savvy.
She was on social media, she didn’t speak English, but, um, she was just super into, she was probably 20, um, super fashionable. She’s the one that kind of worked with us on Airbnb and she was just really, really great. And she brought us to her school, her elementary school that was across the village and she was so happy. And again, she’s 20. She’s like, I really wish you would’ve come to my school when I was younger cause I have no pictures of me when I was kid, you know, and she’s a young super on Facebook and you know, I’m sure she has Snapchat and all those kinds of thing, Cambodia woman. And she saw the value to in her own life. Um, or even I’ve talked to a lot of refugees or immigrants here in Minneapolis who have never had a picture of their grandparents or lost everything in a flood, um, when they were a child or before they traveled here. And so we do go to like refugee camps and things to even just have a start if you’ve lost everything, you know. So, um, there is the treasurer is in a lot of different places for sure.
Nicole
Yeah, absolutely. That’s so cool.
Hannah
May I ask, so if people are listening to this and they want to get involved, how can people find you and um, what’s the best way to reach out if they have any questions?
Ceallaigh
Yeah, for sure. So our website is print the love.org. We’re also on all the social media channels, um, in terms of Instagram and Facebook and things. But you can just email hello at [inaudible] dot org and I’m happy to chat with anyone that wants to talk more or send anyone information about trips or even our supply, the love program, although our website is pretty self explanatory. Um, but yeah, or also even like people who are considering a trip, they like to talk to someone who’s been on a trip. And I’m happy to introduce you to any of those folks. Um, cause it’s different coming from me as a leader, but as you know, what is it like to be a participant and how does it work and, you know, am I safe? And you know, we do a lot of team building, um, prior to going on trips and a lot of trainings and stuff like that, so they could talk about all of that. But yeah.
Hannah
And you mentioned that you have, you know, trips in the works and you’re wanting to do like some teenager parent trips, things like that. Are there any other big goals or dreams that kind of, what’s the next step for the nonprofit?
Ceallaigh
Yeah, I think, gosh, it would be great to have a, um, office and, um, some staff and, um, to be able to do this full time for sure. Um, but in terms of the work, um, yeah, I think we’re just on a really great path and, um, I’m just excited to see where it goes because, um, I think all of us kind of want to leave something here on earth that’s bigger than themselves and I’ll ask them. And, um, so I just hope that it grows healthy too. I, you know, I’ve seen some people burn out or just not work or it grows wonky and I don’t want us to say that, but, um, I wanted to really grow healthy and, um, have really good solid board and make good decisions and really be good with our, you know, child protection policies. And I know kind of the nitty gritty of that kind of stuff is as we grow as teams. But, um, yeah, I think the ultimate goal would to be really, um, financially, um, stable and sustainable and able to continue to do this work more and more in a bigger capacity with lots more people involved in the mission than just me and the board and interns that are here now. Um, that would just be fantastic. Yeah. Yeah.
Hannah
Aye. You should be extremely proud of what you have built and what you have grown cause you’re just making such a large impact. You’re bringing people together all around the world just by taking a photo. I mean people are more similar than we are different. So, and this is just a way to kind of bring everyone together so you should be extremely proud and I’m so, so happy to be able to speak with you today and learn all about your, your business while you’re nonprofit. And yeah, this has just been phenomenal.
Ceallaigh
Yeah. This has been very fun. Thank you so much for such thoughtful questions. I really appreciate that looking into it and knowing, yeah, just it makes a big difference to me too that, that you care so much. Yeah. Well thank you so much.
Hannah
I can’t wait to release this and share this with all of our listeners. Yes. And I have that date in April on my calendar, so you will be seeing me there. I am very excited to attend the relay!