Imagine loosing everything you own in an instant – your house, your belongings, and everything that represented your life’s memories. In times of natural disaster, thousands of people can lose their most prized possessions – including their photographs. It might sound simple, but it’s a big loss if you only have printed copies of your photos.

Operation Photo Rescue (OPR) is an innovative and hard-working non-profit organization that helps people restore photos that have been damaged by natural disasters. Founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2006 by photojournalists Dave Ellis and Becky Sell, their network of volunteers have helped restore over 9,000 photos in the past six years.

Now OPR volunteers are coming to New York City to help victims of Hurricane Sandy. On February 2-3, anyone with photos damaged from Hurricane Sandy can bring up to 20 photos to be evaluated and potentially restored at no cost.

The event will take place at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) at 133 West 21st St., New York, NY. Walk-ins are welcome and appointments are also available here.

Help spread the word about this opportunity – tweet, Facebook, and share with friends. And visit www.operationphotorescue.org for more information.

This event was made possible with the help of SVA, Chase, PhotoShelter, DigMyPics, Imagingetc, and Ken Allen Studios.