Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Nov. 20, 2024 – Serenity Lane Photography owner Ashley Fitts is joining forces with Santa on Friday during the J. Micheal’s Photos with Santa event to raise funds for the FedEx Family House.

The event will be on Friday from 4-7 p.m. at J. Michael’s Hair Salon, located at 2005 E. Highland Drive. Fitts said the FedEx Family House has given her family a lot and now she wants to give back and help others.

The FedEx Family House has 75 rooms and suites that families from out of town can stay in while their children are in the hospital.

“I am just a mom with a dream of helping others,” she explained. “The FedEx Family House has given us experiences that we might have never had. We were able to experience the Memphis Zoo, the Children’s Museum, and Memphis thanks to the FedEx House. My son was able to forget about the hospital and just have fun being a kid.”

Her son, William Berry, is now four, however he started having seizures just before his second birthday. Although doctors are continuously running tests, he has been diagnosed with a sensory processing disorder, ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and autism.

“Due to this we have had multiple ER, pediatrician and specialist visits trying to find answers,” Fitts said. “This has also included him having multiple EEGs, blood work and tubes put in his ears. He has been seeing a specialist at Le Bonheur [Children’s Hospital] over in Memphis and because of this, we have spent multiple nights at the FedEx Family House while he awaited testing and his tubes. They provided us with a place to stay and even fed us at no cost, which gave us less to worry about so we could focus on him getting better.”

While there, she said she met families from all over Northeast Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi, who just wanted what her family did: a child to get better.

“His story is so important to our family and now it can help others,” Fitts said.

Although this is her first event, Fitts said she hopes to do something photo-related every year to raise funds for the FedEx Family House.

All proceeds from Photos with Santa will go to the FedEx Family House. Families wishing to have their photos taken are asked to bring a $10 donation or a new, in-box toy to be donated.

Families will receive a digital album with at least five photos. People can also donate even if they don’t want their photo taken.

Sponsors of this event include J. Michael’s Hair Salon, Gamble Home, Santa Neal and Serenity Lane Photography.

According to the FedEx Family House website, it opened its doors in December of 2010 to provide free, comfortable accommodations to out-of-town families of patients at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. Since opening, they have served more than 325,000 family members from all 50 states and around the world.

The house was founded by Susan Graf, who wanted to create a home for out-of-town families with children receiving treatment at Le Bonheur after learning at a young age how long-distance health care impacts a family. When she was 9 years old, her mother moved with her special needs brother to Philadelphia for his medical treatment while Graf and the rest of her family stayed behind in Boston.

For more on the event, contact Fitts at serenitylanephotography@gmail.com.