30MinPhotos.com raises money for victims of Russian school tragedy

Photo Marketing Association International
September 16, 2004

 

Mitch Goldstone, president of 30 Minutes Photo Etc., Irvine, Calif., USA, viewed first-hand images from the recent tragedy at a school in Beslan, Russia and was inspired to raise money to help the victim’s families.
 

“One of the benefits of owning a national online photo service and retail photo center is that our lab technicians interact with our customers and hear their stories behind the photos they take,” Goldstone says. “One customer just returning from a Russian sightseeing tour vacation shocked me. They had actual photos from the city of Beslan in Russia, where the deadly siege of that school, taken hostage by Chechen terrorists, occurred on Sept 3.”
 

Goldstone made an appeal to the Irvine City Council to spearhead a campaign to help the children and families injured, orphaned and affected as a result of the tragedy. During the Sept 18 opening ceremonies of Irvine’s multi-million dollar new swim stadium and aquatics complex Goldstone wants the city to pause and reflect on the significance of what occurred in Beslan and to use that moment as an opportunity to gather together as a community, and represent all communities and cities across the nation, to help the families in Russia.
 

Goldstone, chairman of Irvine’s Community Services Commission, wants the ceremony to include a pause to observe the tragedy in Beslan, because, he explains “it’s a tragedy for the entire world too.”The scope of the tragedy is larger than the Columbine shootings or Oklahoma City bombing combined.
 

Goldstone spoke with the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., USA, and arranged for monetary contributions be made via its English online websites: www.russianembassy.org and www.moscowhelp.org
 

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