Students shoot free holiday photos for needy families

By Paul Takahashi

Friday, Dec. 17, 2010 | 9:46 a.m.

A lanky teenager wearing a red Santa cap and a blue sweatshirt dashed up to 50-year-old Marsha Sled.

“Here you go,” he said, handing her a festively-framed photograph of Sled’s 15-month-old grandson, Micah Gray, posing with Santa.

Tears began to well up in Sled’s eyes.

“Look,” she said, holding the picture toward her daughter, Angela Gray, 29. “Isn’t he beautiful?”

The photograph — taken just minutes ago by student volunteers in Bishop Gorman High School’s photography club — represented the first holiday picture taken of Micah.

Dozens of parents and grandparents visited Matthew’s Closet at Christ Church Episcopal Church, 2000 South Maryland Parkway, on Thursday afternoon to have free Christmas pictures taken with Santa, otherwise known as Bishop Gorman senior and football player Bryson Mook.

“It’s all about giving back to the community,” Mook, 17, said. “I feel so blessed to have these kids to give back to.”

Between 70 and 100 people stream through Matthew’s Closet each Thursday between 3 and 5 p.m. to take advantage of a free clothing program for low-income residents and the homeless. The weekly event coincides with the Christ Church’s food pantry hours.

“We’re very blessed to be here,” said Sled, who came with her family to pick out some clothes. “It’s helped us quite a lot.”

Matthew’s Closet began 16 year ago as a service project by Bishop Gorman students, said Kim Martinez, a campus minister at the west Las Vegas Catholic high school.

Since then, students have donated tons of clothing items, raised thousands of dollars and volunteered hundreds of service hours toward Matthew’s Closet, which got its name from the Biblical verse, Matthew 25:35.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I needed clothes and you clothed me,” Martinez paraphrased.

Last year, students from Bishop Gorman’s 80-member photography club came up with the idea to utilize their budding photography skills to give Matthew’s Closet visitors a memorable gift.

On Thursday, students dressed up in costumes, posed with the children and doled out gift bags filled with coloring books, crayons and trinkets.

“Some of these kids have never had their pictures taken. It’s a luxury we don’t think about,” said Greg Cava, a photography teacher and club adviser. “Seeing the parents’ faces light up...now they have a picture of their kids they can keep forever.”