In one day, through the power of social media, End Hunger in Calvert County raised enough money to feed 4,000 families for a week.
On Giving Tuesday, End Hunger encouraged Facebook users to use a new feature within the site to host a fundraiser on their personal pages. This feature allows the users’ Facebook friends to click a link to donate to a cause. End Hunger posted a video tutorial on how to set it up and then things took off.
Encouraging others to host their fundraisers expanded the reach from outside those who follow End Hunger on Facebook, explained Jacqueline Miller, president of End Hunger. However, Miller didn’t get stats throughout the day to know how many fundraisers were being hosted or how much money was raised.
It wasn’t until two days later that she got the spreadsheet from Facebook, she added up the numbers, and was astonished to find out that 800 people donated a combined $40,000.
“I was not expecting $40,000. I was so overwhelmed with the generosity of the community when I saw that number. It sounds so silly but I literally cried when I saw that number,” Miller said.
That $40,000 was doubled with a matching grant from the state, meaning $80,000 will all go toward warehouse operations and feeding hungry people. Miller said it takes about $20 for End Hunger to feed a family for a week.
“This donation that Calvert County did, they did this one day on social media. We turned social media for good and that was so overwhelming,” Miller said.
By SARAH FALLIN sfallin@somdnews.com