Charities – With Microsoft Support – Create the Heart of Humanitarian American PHOTO Mission Series

New York, NY, July 11, 2006 – Hachette Filipacchi Media (HFM) – The American PHOTO Mission Series  – on newsstands now in the July/August issue of American PHOTO Magazine – illuminates the work of 16 charities in a multi-page editorial as well as on inspirational web site http://www.popphoto.com/missionseries. These passionate causes and strong humanitarianism are captured through the discerning lens of six of the top photographers in the world. 

For some of the photographers who donated their time to shoot the American PHOTO Mission Series, the job meant traveling to remote locations such as Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or the Afghan town of Bamiyan.  Others traveled shorter distances, but all uncovered the humanitarianism of self-less work for others.

Mission photographers uncovered and illuminated the workings of charities that feed and house the poor, that find missing children, that protect our natural resources, that provide an enriching setting of competition and companionship for the physically and mentally challenged, and that bring education to hard-put ethnic groups.

While much of the public eyes has been trained to event-driven causes – prompted by unprecedented catastrophic natural disasters – these non-profits work diligently, tirelessly for causes in which they believe day-to-day, year in and year out:

• New York Charities: New York Restoration Project– www.nyrp.org: New York Cares– www.nycares.org; Gods Love We Deliver– www.glwd.org; City Harvest–  www.cityharvest.org; Citymeals-on-Wheels– www.citymeals.org; Coalition For The Homeless– www.coalitionforthehomeless.org; All Stars Project Inc– www.allstars.org; Fresh Air Fund– www.freshair.org; Puppies Behind Bars– www.puppiesbehindbars.com; VASCA–  www.vasca.org; Miracle House– www.miraclehouse.org
• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children– www.missingkids.com
• Imagine Asia– http://www.stevemccurry.com/imagineasia/
• Innvision– a San Francisco area Charity– http://www.innvision.org/
• Special Olympics– www.specialolympics.org/
• Earthjustice– ArCtic National Wildlife http://www.earthjustice.org/

“This effort would not have been possible without the help of Microsoft, which funded the entire project and provided technical assistance throughout. It is our hope that this is just the beginning of a continuing interest in the people and organizations that are doing so much for us all,” notes David Schonauer, American PHOTO Magazine Editor In Chief.