Royal treatment: Geist resident helps bring smiles to Princess for a Day event

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By Sam Elliott

Like most young girls, Geist resident Mary Hoffman spent her childhood playtime pretending and dreaming she was a royal princess.

Thanks to her work with a local charity the past four years, she’s gotten to continue that dream into adulthood.

“That’s why I’m so glad I get to be a part of this — because I still get to be a princess,” Hoffman said.

But her involvement makes others glad, too, as Hoffman spent the day March 13 decked out in princess attire welcoming young girls — themselves dressed as princesses, too — and interacting and entertaining them during the sixth annual Princess for a Day.

Princess for a Day benefits Flashes of Hope, which donates proceeds to cancer research and provides unique experiences for children hospitalized by cancer and their families.

Professional photographer Mark Watson, owner of Spotlight Photography in Indianapolis, is the director of the Indianapolis chapter of Flashes of Hope. The charity will take over one room of a local hospital, like Riley’s Hospital for Children or Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, and transform it into a photography studio to provide free professional photo shots and portraits for families.

“He has a whole team he brings in, like makeup artists and stylists and they’ll bring full costumes for the kids,” Hoffman said. “They take professional photos of kids and families who might not know how much time they’re going to have to spend together, but they’re holding onto hope… They donate the photos to the families, so it’s just a time to capture those smiles and those precious moments and just be able to kind of take their minds off the fact that they’re in the hospital.”

Hoffman first met Watson at a party he was photographing, where he quickly recruited her to get involved in the Princess for a Day event to benefit Flashes of Hope.

“He told me all about Princess for a Day because he needed a volunteer to be the big princess,” she said. “Now not only do I volunteer as a big princess, but there are several others that do as well. We come down and interact with all the little princesses. Not only do I feel like a princess, I feel like I make a difference in all these little princesses’ lives. They all look up to me and just to see the little girls when they first walk in, as soon as they see me as a princess their faces light up and they’ll come running over. They’ll want to give me a hug and just smile. I’ll greet them and say, ‘Hello, little princess, it’s great to have you here at our royal ball.’ I just try to make them feel really special. Some years I’ll have some little girls just follow me around all day because they’re just so captivated.”

The event features a “royal treatment” of activities for young princesses, including hair, makeup and nail styling, a princess photo shoot opportunity, crafts, games plenty of princess-themed fun.

“It just makes me really happy to know I have a moment in time to make a special memory with a little girl that she won’t forget for the rest of her life,” Hoffman said. “I’ll often get to be in a lot of the professional photos because the little princesses will get professional photos and they’ll want me or another princess in theirs. That’s another great little moment in time and they’re never going to forget that little bit of joy from one day in their life when they were little.”

For more, visit SpotlightPhotography.net/Flashes-of-Hope.

Meet Mary Hoffman

  • Chicago native, moved to Geist area four years ago.
  • Owner of Musica Bella music studio, teaching piano and vocal lessons to area youth.
  • Involved with Fishers Community Chorus, which has its next concert at 3 p.m. May 22 at Geist Christian Church.
  • Volunteer with Flashes of Hope’s Princess for a Day event for four years.

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