Author Donates Income from Photo Book to Church Charities

by Erin Carelse · Published May 1, 2018 · Updated May 2, 2018

Grazia Barletta (centre) donated money from the first print-run of her book to St Joseph’s Home in Montana, Cape Town. With her are St Joseph’s director Thea Patterson (left) and development manager Alrika Hefers.

The author of a popular coffee table book is giving proceeds from sales to Catholic charities.

Grazia Barletta, a parishioner at Our Lady of Good Hope in Sea Point, Cape Town, has created and published a coffee table photography book entitled Moments that Have Captured my Heart. She is on the third print-run of the book.

Ms Barletta, a business support specialist in food projects at Woolworths, created the book using her own photographs combined with inspirational quotes and messages.

“I enrolled in a photography course, and discovered my love for photography, which inspired me to start my own blog,” she said.

“There are no specific topics I focus on, just stories my photos tell. I wanted to share my photos, and it was suggested that I print them in a coffee table book. The rest is history.”

St Joseph’s Home, Missionaries of Charity, Nazareth House

The beneficiary of Ms Barletta’s first print-run was St Joseph’s Home in Montana, Cape Town, an intermediate paediatric care facility for children with life-limiting and life-threatening illnesses.

“My late father was called Joseph and I felt it would be a special way to honour his memory — as well as having been to the home and volunteered with the children years ago,” she told The Southern Cross.

The second print-run saw the proceeds going towards the Missionaries of Charity home in Khayelitsha run by Mother Teresa nuns. The home offers childcare and healthcare accommodation. Nuns also visit the sick and take food parcels to those in need.

“I’ve been very blessed in my life and I wanted to give back,” Ms Barletta said.

Money from the third print-run will go towards Nazareth House in central Cape Town.

Copies of Moments that Have Captured my Heart are available at the Wordsworth stores in Sea Point and Gardens Centre as well as Oxford Stationery in Gardens Centre for R200, or can be ordered from Ms Barletta directly at graziabarletta1@gmail.com