After 5: Local photographer captures Convoy of Hope's efforts

It's not often the city of Springfield closes off Main Avenue.

But when a 55-foot tractor-trailer full of Randy Bacon photography rolls into town for downtown's First Friday Art Walk, it gives reason to stop the traffic.

The trailer doubles as an art gallery in a traveling exhibit called Reel Lives and part of The Festival of Art and Compassion at the Monarch Art Factory, 600 W. College St. It'll stop outside Bacon's gallery at the corner of Main Avenue and College Street for a 6-10 p.m. showing during the Sept. 4 Art Walk.

In partnership with 501(c)3 nonprofit Convoy of Hope, the exhibit features 34 2-foot by 4-foot portraits, with personal stories and video presentations about the lives impacted by Convoy's personal and disaster relief efforts. The Reel Lives exhibit was unveiled in early August to a national audience of 30,000 at the Assemblies of God General Council meetings in Orlando, Fla.

"It's been really interesting to see people go through it and come out it tears because of the reality of how some people live every day," says Jeff Nene, Convoy's director of communications, who worked side-by-side with Randy and Shannon Bacon on the exhibit.

The Bacons collaborated on the project during months on assignment with Convoy of Hope teams. The Bacons photographed and interviewed guests at citywide outreaches, disaster victims at their rebuilt homes and churches, and several families of the 18,000 children Convoy feeds each day. Shannon Bacon wrote the stories that aim to be a snapshot of Convoy of Hope's profound work assisting some 28 million people in 112 countries and 45 states since its start in 1994. To put a dollar figure on it, the organization has given away more than $150 million worth of food and supplies to people in need.

Beyond numbers, Nene says it's difficult to show people the impact of Convoy's services have on those in need worldwide.

"Until you have been to a Third World country, an inner city neighborhood, a refugee camp, a slum, that sort of thing, you never really know," he says. "One of the unique gifts that Randy has is being able to ... capture a moment that really draws you into a photo. What we've tried to do is take that ability, and marry it with his wife Shannon's writing ability. It's a great combinational use of two mediums (that) pulls you into that environment."

Randy Bacon shot more than 1,000 photos for the project. The teams selected the best 300 and those are shown in a slide show during the exhibit, Nene adds.

Additionally, clean-water demonstrations will be on display, and information on becoming a Convoy volunteer will be available. Convoy also will show still and moving images in the Bellwether Gallery of the Arts and Figment Art Gallery and Culture House inside Monarch Art Factory.