Mitch Goldstone, president and CEO of 30 Minute Photos Etc., Irvine, Calif., USA, reports “Operation Photo,” appealing to U.S. photographers to donate older model digital cameras and accessories to families of military service members distanced from loved ones, has been extended through July 4, 2005. Since its launch a few weeks ago, Operation Photo has provided approximately $110,000 in donated digital cameras to military families through www.operationhomefront.net. “We needed to extend the deadline because there are so many more military families requesting the cameras,” Goldstone says.
Donations have been received from Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y., USA, Olympus Imaging America Inc., Melville, N.Y., USA, and Konica Minolta Photo Imaging U.S.A. Inc., Mahwah, N.J., USA. All donated digital cameras will be packaged for distribution to military bases and military family support organizations across the nation. Service members abroad can also use the company’s free photo sharing service to send pictures back home and order prints.