It is heartening to see how social media interfaces are being used as congregation platforms for fulfilling social duties and responsibilities in an organized manner. The huge amount of exposure enjoyed by these platforms is now being utilized to help those who probably need it the most. And what is more heartening is that it is being spearheaded by the younger breed of social media users who have often been blamed for misusing it to the best of capacity.
The Initiative Driven by the BK Girls
A page that was started by the BK girls called “BK Girls Give Back” initially started off by offering assistance to people who were stranded in areas that had no cell phone access after the super Sandy. However, it soon developed into a full-fledged help vehicle for those affected by the Sandy. So, they posts were about offering supplies to shelters, rides to residents who needed it and volunteers to organization. Even pets that were initially lost and then found were written about in the timeline posts.
According to Christina Karaba, a member of the BK Girls, they had just started the page for tracking family members and friends who were in need of help. However, the initiative turned into a movement of sorts with as many as 1.2 million hits.
Other Heartening Examples
Just like the “Giving Back” page, there are several others that have managed to bring about positive differences. The more prominent ones include “Sandy Help”, “Help Brooklyn”, “Sandybaggers” and “Surviving Sandy”. These are platforms where people who wish to provide aid to cyclone victims share all the information among themselves. According to the official stats provided by Facebook, there were as many as 700 groups that had created pages related to the “Sandy”, offering to help the worst hit.
However, most of these groups offering help to cyclone victims do not deal with money. There is no cash handling involved. For instance, the BK Girls call themselves help brokers. They are only responsible for building help connections. Several groups have also joined Twitter for promoting fundraisers. Shops that pledge to benefit Sandy victims from their gains are publicized. Many also chose to tweet help offers, providing legal advice for free and offering child and pet care facilities and clothes drives.
You can find more such stories here.
Here is a useful link for those wishing to donate: http://www.fema.gov/hurricane-sandy-donate-and-volunteer
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