Do1Thing Blog

by Joe Perone/The Star-Ledger

Tuesday February 17, 2009, 12:06 PM

How did you spend your Valentine’s Day? Dinner and candlelight? Well, thousands of people across the country volunteered as part of Do1Thing, a New Jersey group that helps provide shelter for kids in trouble. We’ll show you a powerful video of one teen who was raped and beaten before she came to Covenant House in Newark.

Thousands of Volunteers

A second video by John Munson tells the story of a teen who has been living on the streets for months until she came to Covenant House. Listen to her struggle, and watch the transformation.

Noah Addis graduated Magna Cum Laude from Drexel University in Philadelphia with a degree in Photography in 1997. Since then, he has worked as a staff photographer for the Star-Ledger newspaper in Newark, NJ.

He has covered such stories as the growth of Christianity in Africa and the war in Iraq. Noah has won numerous regional and national awards including the New Jersey Photographer of the Year award three times. In 2001 he was the runner-up in the portfolio category of the National Press Photographer’s Association Best of Photojournalism contest and he has won General News and Feature awards in the Pictures of the Year International contest. His work has been shown in galleries in New York and Philadelphia. He will be leaving the newspaper to pursue a freelance career in December 2008.

View Noah’s Work

Bumper DeJesus is the Creative and Technical Producer for The Star-Ledger’s web presence including: The Ledger Live webcast, online news and sports videos, and new media presentations. Designs and creates motion graphics animation, edits multimedia projects, and develops newspaper-to-internet strategies for the company. Began in the industry as a photo editor and photo illustrator for Business and Sunday pages. Constructed and currently manages an industry website, the New York Press Photographers Association.

View Bumper’s Work

Pim Van Hemmen, a native of the Netherlands, spent 10 years covering sports, features and worldwide news events for The Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey.
He then created and ran an all-digital photo department at the newspaper, which won the  Pulitzer Prize for feature photography in 2001, the newspaper’s first Pulitzer.
He is a former New Jersey Press Photographer of the Year, co-editor of three books, and the co-founder of the Heart Gallery of New Jersey, which since 2005 has used photography to find permanent homes for more than 150 unwanted children.
Pim is also co-founder of Do1Thing, a national non-profit group, which uses photography to promote social change.
He is a lifelong sailor, and the parent of two young children, which explains his passion for those two subjects.
He lives in Fair Haven, New Jersey with his wife, son and daughter.

Robin Gaby Fisher specializes in telling stories about regular people living through extraordinary circumstances. Her Star-Ledger newspaper series “After the Fire,” about two students who were critically burned in the Seton Hall dormitory fire, was a finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.
In 2004 her series “Last Chance High,” about a special school for troubled teens, was also a finalist for a Pulitzer. The series received the Nieman Foundation at Harvard’s 2005 Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers. Robin was part of the Star-Ledger team that won the 2005 Pulitizer Prize for breaking news.
Her new book, “After the Fire” debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List in September.

As a staff photographer at the Star-Ledger I have been documenting the lives of people in New Jersey and beyond for over 20 years.

I have covered many major events as well the small moments that make up everyday life. Among the major events I have covered are   9-11, Hurricane Katrina, the World Series, the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the US Open, Presidential inaugurations and Papal visits. I was the first photographer allowed under the World Trade Center site after 9-11. The photos were distributed worldwide.

Luckily my efforts have been recognized by my peers. I have won many national awards, one of my photos even hung on the walls of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Among the organizations I belong to are the National Press Photographers Association, New York Press Photographers Association and the New Jersey Press Photographers Association, where I have served as vice president.

I have appeared as a television guest on New Jersey Network and was interviewed by Brian Williams for NBC News.

While the awards are great it is really the ability to meet new people and tell their stories that keeps me coming back for more.

View John’s work

The recipient of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. Rainey is the recipient of several journalism awards including the 2000 RFK Journalism Award for Domestic Photojournalism, The 2001 Best of Show and Gold Medal in the International Society of News Design, the 2000 Best of Show in the Print Division of the National Headliner’s Awards and the runner up for the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. Rainey is a 2-time winner of the NJ Press Photographer of the Year award and 4-time winner of the New Jersey Understanding Award for Photojournalism. He is Past President and Life Member of the NJPPA. Rainey was

part of the team awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for the resignation of NJ Gov. Jim McGreevey and in 2005, Rainey was awarded the Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers with colleague Robin Gaby-Fisher. Rainey has been a news photographer for 20 years and been with The Star-Ledger since 1995. Rainey holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Rutgers University and is an adjunct professor of Photojournalism at Rutgers University and Kean University. He is married and has three children.

View Matt’s work