Hello! You have landed on this page because you clicked on a link that Father Tommy so graciously sent around in hopes that you will support, St. Margaret’s parishioner, Jenn Ocken’s and her soon-to-be released book, Shut the Front Door, a book documenting The Front Porch Project that happened during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.
When you buy the book using the cart on this page this page $15 of every book sold will be donated back to St. Margaret’s benefiting both the preservation of this unprecedented time during 2020 and your own community.
St. Margaret’s is well represented in Shut the Front Door. Jenn came out to the first out door service in 2020 as the stay-at-home ordnance was starting to lift to capture how churches were maneuvering through such a historical time in our life. Also included in the book is Father Tommy Dillon and Joshua’s porch project photo and a few other parishioners who joined Jenn for the project last year.
More about the BOOK!
More 800 families and businesses were photographed during the shelter-in-place ordinance for Baton Rouge, starting in late March 2020 and continuing through June. The photos are accompanied by a series of stories and thoughts from project participants, recounting their Covid-19 pandemic experiences and importance of supporting local businesses in the area.
Jenn also shares her memories and stories throughout the project, offering an insider’s view of how the project began, the logistics and layers it took to pull it off, and the power and support it created in the community.
Jenn is calling on her community to get involve in supporting each other with the BUY A BOOK/GIVE A BOOK perk! This will not only get you a book, but will donate a book to one of the state’s public 70 libraries or to a local bookstore to sell. (The bookstores will then keep 100% of the retail sales of Shut the Front Door in the spirit of supporting local businesses that was so vital to The Front Porch Project.) And if you choose this perk, you will be entered to win an hour-long portrait session with Jenn Ocken, including 25 custom-designed photo cards.
About The Perks!
BUY A BOOK / GIVE A BOOK This perk is all about continuing The Front Porch Project’s mission. When buying yourself a book, please donate a second book to be bought for one of our 70 Louisiana Public Libraries or help us distribute books to locally owned book stores. When they’re sold there, the store owners will keep 100% of the retail sales as a boost to their businesses. This is yet another unique and easy way to continue to support local. And, anyone who buys this perk is automatically entered in a drawing to win a portrait session with Jenn that includes 25 custom-designed 5x7 photo cards. $100 ($120 value)
BOOK + ACRYLIC PRINT Commemorate the best five minutes of the quarantine with a unique, archival acrylic 8x10 display of your Front Porch Project photo - printed locally at Rebel Graphics, because we all fully understand now why it’s essential to buy local! This print will stand as a reminder of one of the, as Jenn likes to say, most CRAP-tastic times of our lives. If you took a social distance selfie with Jenn and would like to use that instead, we can make that happen too! This perk also gets you a signed copy of Shut the Front Door. $115 ($140 value)
JUST A BOOK, PLS Okay, you don’t want or need all the extras. We understand. Keeping it simple is your way. Get your book to have and to hold once it is printed locally at Franklin Press on Highland Road in Baton Rouge. (If you haven’t noticed, local is how we roll around here!) $55 ($60 value)
BUY IT ALL Yep! Get a book for you, a book to donate, and an 8x10 acrylic archival photo display of an image from your porch session. $165 ($200 value)
BUY IT ALL + PORTRAIT SESSION (#SmileForJennJenn) In addition to the BUY IT ALL perk, this one adds JennJenn to the mix! Yes, you get your book, a book to donate, the 8x10 acrylic print, and now a portrait session with Jenn on location in the Baton Rouge area that also includes 25 custom designed 5x7 photo cards and envelopes. (Not in Baton Rouge? Feel free to check in and see if your location will qualify for this perk before you buy.) You can schedule your session immediately once this perk is purchased, btw! $465 ($565 value)
ADD EXTRA BOOKS TO YOUR PERK Need more than one book for family? Get a few more as grandparent gifts or an extra one for each kid so they’ll have their own when they’re older. They’ll thank you in 20 years! This book won’t be available anywhere after this print run is finished—unless it’s being sold for $500+ because it will be a collector’s item—so don’t miss out! Buy as many extra books you need here at $50 each. Once this presale is over, and remaining books will be $60 each at local stores in the Baton Rouge area. $50 per extra book
What We Need & What You Get
Self-publishing a book is EXPENSIVE and takes A LOT of WORK from many talented people. We know you’ll be thrilled with the results, as this book has been so worth the time, effort, and money put into it! Shut the Front Door will be a lasting memory of the trials, challenges, celebrations, and silver linings of the Covid-19 pandemic in our community, preserving our history and providing a reminder of how we got through it together.
Working together as a community made The Front Porch Project a success. Now we need you again!
We ask that you please contribute to help bring this book into fruition and preserve just how amazing The Front Porch Project and it’s pay-it-forward mission impacted our community during the Covid-19 pandemic.
About The Front Porch Project BR that has inspired this book:
Inspired by a friend’s confidence in her, during 2020’s Covid-19 pandemic, Jenn Ocken led a collection of other local photographers to conduct The Front Porch Project BR—an opportunity for local families to have a socially distanced portrait made on their porch, offering a bit of normalcy and fun during a difficult and crazy time. In exchange for their photographs, people purchased gift cards in support of local Baton Rouge businesses affected by the pandemic lockdown. In the end, this support had a $1.28 million impact on local Louisiana communities and their economies, as well as spreading care and concern in a way impossible to measure.
