Thank God for people such as Nanette Martin. The professional photographer came through Natchez this week with one mission in mind — saving stray pets.

Her tools are unlikely ones, a camera and the skills she learned after years of being a professional photographer.

Martin was visiting our community to help the volunteers at local animal shelters learn how to improve the photographs they take of animals waiting to be adopted.

Martin co-founded the Shelter Me Photography organization and now focuses her knowledge on helping others who can, in turn, help the helpless.

Martin coached volunteers from the Natchez-Adams County Humane Society’s shelter, the Concordia PAWS organization and a shelter from Pineville, La., on how to make the absolute best image of adoptable pets.

Martin serves as a wonderful example for the rest of us. What skills do you have that you could share with others?

While many people may scoff at the notion that they could help others, every human being has special gifts, many of which can be valuable to others if only the person takes the time to share those skills.

We see much volunteerism in our community already. Church groups and others came to the aid of tornado victims this week. The Adams County Master Gardeners group has given countless hours of time helping to beautify our area.

Yet, those groups are only a fraction of our total population.

We can imagine how incredible our community would be if even more people volunteered their time and effort. It may be a simple as helping take a better photograph of a dog, but it could make a world of difference.