Candra Brooks, the office manager at the Osceola Sentinel-Tribune, does an excellent job of keeping things organized, so the unclaimed photographs at the office were bound to be sorted sooner than later.
Wednesday, Feb. 1, the first batch were posted on Facebook. The response from the community was tremendous. More than 100 comments were posted in less than an hour. A week later, post engagement for the Facebook page had increased by 8,320 percent. Thousands of people spent countless hours browsing, tagging and commenting on the pictures.
Roughly two dozen people stopped by to pick their photos up. A few asked their photos be deleted – or possibly, burned.
As fun as the experience has been, the pictures were posted for practical reasons. Photos get dropped off at the paper for inclusion in announcements, stories and ads.
Readers might have assumed old photos were thrown out or destroyed. Not so! Care has been taken to preserve them for whenever family or friends could reclaim them. The paper is asking for the community’s help in clearing out roughly 2,000 photos. Brooks said she’s scanned 1,659 to date, but there are still a few boxes left.
Bear in mind, unclaimed photos might become part of our permanent collection, on display for whomsoever chooses to come by the office and ask for a look. Interested parties are encouraged to call, e-mail or message the paper to reserve a photo for pick-up, arrange for mailing or request disposal. Office hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Unclaimed photos will continue to be posted on the Osceola Sentinel-Tribune Facebook page every week. Be sure to 'Like' the page to receive updates, at www.Facebook.com/Osceola.Sentinel.Tribune/