Weekend project - salvaging photos

[nchoney]

So... we have a firefighter who is also one of the local ministers... his mom is also a minister and she had just moved to Ocracoke in August to take over the church down there. Her house had over 5 feet of floodwater in it. They had called during the height of the storm to let Tim know that they were ok and they were going up into the attic.

He's been going down with work crews to help muck out homes and help folks salvage what they could. He called last weekend and asked me if I could try to salvage what was left of his mom's photos. They were pretty icky wet and stuck together in big clumps. I put them right into the freezer and this weekend, I'm spending some time working with them. I've peeled them all apart and those that still have viable images, I'm now scanning and then I'll have them printed.

I've also posted a couple messages to folks in Avon, where they used to live, in hopes that maybe some folks have Tim and his family in some of their photos. Fingers crossed.

But... this is some of what I've salvaged ... not very many photos. I'm glad I could get these few images out of the mess. And I'm hopeful that some other folks may have some photos, too.

[mpizzazz]

Wow, what a job!

I've heard of putting them in the freezer, what does it do to help save them?

[nchoney]

It solidifies all the wetness so you can then pop the stuck photos apart without them just being a glued mess. These needed to be frozen a few weeks ago, though... I wasn't able to salvage too many of them. But... got more of them than I thought I would.

Then I've turned to Facebook and church websites... there are some photos of both Tim and his mom on those church sites where she has been the pastor. So those may help. Also wrote some messages to a few folks, hoping they'll pass the word and maybe some of their friends will have photos with them in 'em. Fingers crossed.

[pamcook]

That’s a labor of love. Only someone who has endured something similar could ever understand.

[nchoney]

I was able to salvage 75 photos from his pile of wet ones. I've found a bunch of photos with his mom.. and him as a teen.. mostly his mom.. but I think she'll like having them in print, too.

Hoping maybe to find some family friends who will have a few to add to this.

And.. yep... it's a labor of love... every time. Hate to think of someone losing all their photos. I could stand a good downsizing but would be hurting if I lost all of them.

[Keitha]

Wow Debi, so nice that you can help help retrieve even a handful of photos. They'll be all the more precious because there are so few.

[pbp908]

That's a heartbreaker. I hope that more people will respond with photos so you can scan and give him copies.

This makes me want to scan all of all of our photos and put the electronic copies in a safety deposit box.