Ben Schumaker
Picture Perfect Project
Ben Schumaker ’03, MS’06
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Our Ten Questions
- 1. What is your favorite flavor of Babcock ice cream?
Blue Moon - 2. What do you most miss about campus?
The excitement of thousands of young people who don’t have a clue where life is taking them. - 3. What is your favorite mode of transportation?
Bike - 4. What items would you take to a desert island?
Good dance music and prayer beads - 5. What was your first job?
Weeding dandelions for 2 cents each - 6. Who is your hero?
The Dalai Lama - 7. What are you reading now?
House of War by James Carroll - 8. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
“If there is any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now, as I shall not pass this way again.” – William Penn - 9. What's on your iPod?
Don’t own one; I’m still in the Walkman age. - 10. What is your proudest UW achievement?
Not getting kicked out of the UW Gospel Choir for having a tragically untrained singing voice.
Profile
Ben Schumaker ’03, MS’06
UW Majors: Psychology and Social Work
Profession: Founder of The Memory Project
Shortly after graduating, armed with a desire to help and some donated medical supplies, Ben Schumaker found himself the designated “doctor” at a Guatemalan orphanage. But there was one problem: the 23-year-old psychology major had no medical training. Desperately wanting to help, but not knowing how, proved to be one of the most difficult experiences of his life.
But after an encounter with a young Guatemalan man who explained that he had no photographs or keepsakes to remember his childhood by, Schumaker returned to Madison with an idea.
While enrolled in the master's program in the UW's School of Social Work in 2004, he started the Memory Project, which provides orphaned children around the world with hand-painted portraits of themselves. The portraits serve as a way to both help build a positive sense of identity and supply the children with something of value and remembrance. For many, it’s the only possession they own.
Schumaker works with high school art teachers around the country to assign the portraits to students. And it’s here that the Memory Project really takes off, by helping to raise awareness of global humanitarian issues among American children. Students spend hours studying their subjects, and many have been driven to raise financial donations, become pen pals with the children and work beyond their assignments in other ways.
To date, the Memory Project has spawned the creation of more than 15,000 portraits by thousands of high school students around the country, and shows no signs of slowing. Schumaker also founded Books of Hope, now directed by his fiancé, Abha Thakkar, a program similar to the Memory Project which provides homemade books to children in Uganda.
Never lacking in modesty, Schumaker largely credits the people he has met throughout the years for helping him get to where he is today. “I am so thankful for this life,” he says, “and my experience at UW-Madison was a prime component of that good fortune.”
Ben's Essay
Attending UW-Madison helped me realize how lucky I am. When I finished my bachelor’s degree in 2003, my mind had been exposed to meaningful perspectives and ideas, my heart was alive with idealism, and my schedule lacked obligations of any kind. I went to Central America hoping to continue a process of self-discovery, and found myself volunteering at an orphanage in rural Guatemala.
I hated it. The sadness and stress were suffocating. The kids didn’t have any access to health care and somehow thought I could be their “doctor.” They tugged on my sleeve to show me pus-filled infections belonging in medical journals. I had never felt so powerless. I wanted to help, but didn’t know how.
Then, a man stopped by who had grown up in a different orphanage. He only spent one day with us, but left a lasting message. Regardless of the inadequate health care and horrible nutrition, his advice did not concern the kids’ basic needs. Rather, he encouraged us to help the kids collect special belongings that would honor their personal heritage and identity. He went on to explain that he did not have any items from his youth: no photographs, no keepsakes, and no parents to help him look back on his own development.
I returned to Madison, enrolled in the master’s of social work program, and began to contact orphanages in numerous countries to ask if their kids would like to have their portraits painted. I then collected photographs of those children and sent them to high school art teachers, whose students worked to create paintings and drawings from the images. This came to be called the Memory Project, and it quickly grew nationwide in scale. On Wisconsin Magazine ran a cover story about it during the summer of 2006, and Katie Couric later concluded her first night on the CBS Evening News by sharing the project with 13 million viewers. The project continues to grow, and is giving rise to moments that could never have been imagined.
In the end, however, I cannot say that I am the creator of the Memory Project, but simply a grateful participant in the process of its creation. I was born in a wonderful country to outstanding parents who provided me with opportunities to learn and grow. They sent me to an extraordinary university where professors and fellow students helped to expand my understanding of the world, and fueled a passion for humanity. When I traveled to Guatemala, it was the man at the orphanage who ignited motivation for the project. Dozens of individuals then offered advice and support as the project got off the ground. To date, hundreds of high school art teachers and thousands of their students have produced more than 10,000 portraits for kids waiting to receive them.
It is because of all these countless individuals that I now receive letters like the following: “I want to say thank you on behalf of all the children for your wonderful project. I grew up at an orphanage in Mexico; I was one of those children whose memories were not captured. I am very sure that the children will always remember everyone in the Memory Project who is helping them keep a memory of their childhood with a portrait. Sincerely, Betty Flores, New Mexico”
I am so thankful for this life, and my experience at UW-Madison was a prime component of that good fortune.