For Alisha Taylor, it was the kind of heart-warming moment mothers dream of.
"It was so sweet," she says of her three sons. "They came up to me and said 'we're really proud of you, mum'. No-one told them to do it, they said it all on their own. It was a special moment."
This touching compliment was well deserved because Taylor, a self-employed photographer, became something of a hero in her neighbourhood in the Tauranga suburb of Otumoetai during the Covid-19 level 4 lockdown.
Armed with her camera, she pounded the streets most days raising funds to put towards food parcels for people in the area.
Shooting from a safe distance, Taylor took portraits of families in front of their homes in return for donations to the Tauranga Community Foodbank. The amount raised has reached $4500 – enough to provide up to 300 extra food parcels for those in need.
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Although she doesn't know the exact number, Taylor thinks she has photographed at least 100 families, her biggest effort in a single day being the 18 family groups she captured on film a couple of weekends ago.
"I was out for almost five hours that day," she says. "I'm definitely fitter than I've ever been - and I'm certainly feeling my age - but I love doing it and helping others."
Part of her motivation was to show her sons - Austin (14), Jordan (12) and Rory (10) - it is possible to do something to help others no matter the circumstances: "It's been a lovely lesson for them, they now understand you can do good in a crisis.
"My husband Michael (he is an electrician) has backed and supported me the whole way, especially by looking after the boys when I've been out."
It is not only her family who appreciate what she has done. Her efforts have come to the attention of the ASB who have recognised her with an ASB Good as Gold Isolation Edition award, giving her $2500 and a further $2500 to donate to the Foodbank in her name.
Taylor was inspired by the #frontstepsproject which launched in the US last month when photographers in Boston decided to highlight the faces of people in their community during the Covid-19 crisis (the US effort has since spread to other cities and has raised over US$500,000 for organisations such as foodbanks and hospitals).
"I thought 'I've got the skills' and I wanted to use them to help others," she says. "I always photographed from a safe distance.
"I also told people to donate only what they can afford as I didn't want anyone to be under any financial stress."
She says the feedback from the people she has photographed has been lovely and heart-warming: "They get so excited and dress up in good clothes; it's like a spark of joy for them."
Taylor has been running her business for four years (prior to this she worked as a beauty therapist) and specialises in photographing weddings, family groups, new born babies and a mixture of events such as dance shows.
"Photography has been a love of mine from an early age," she says. As well as formal study in the art, she has also had experience working alongside professional photographers before starting her business, Alisha Taylor Photography.
Because of the lockdown, she has been unable to work and says the ASB donation will be a massive help in paying for her own family's food and other expenses.
Taylor was nominated for the award by a neighbour Gabriella Beswick who says she put her name forward because "she's done an awesome job and I thought it was a really cool idea."
The manager at the Tauranga Foodbank, Nicki Goodwin, says Taylor's efforts have made a huge difference financially.
"We've had a 70 per cent increase in the number of people needing food parcels compared to the same time last year," she says. "We are distributing up to 200 a week at the moment. A third of those are new and we expect demand to increase when winter arrives and things like power bills start going up.
"Together with the $4500 Alisha has raised, the ASB donation of $2500 gives us an extra $7000 and that amount will enable us to provide between 280 and 300 additional food parcels.
"We are not only helping families, but a lot of elderly people who can't get out to get food," she says. "We're also providing parcels to a number of people from Argentina and Brazil who have been stranded in New Zealand (during lockdown).
"Alisha is a lovely lady, very humble, very creative and motivated and she's been doing an amazing job."