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People are using the power of social media to change lives

by KING 5 News

KING5.com

Posted on May 29, 2011 at 5:58 PM

When the Rewolinskis needed help recently, they were blown away by the response.

"We've never experienced so many people coming together for us and that was just life changing for us to know there are people that want to and do care,” said Angela.

Thousands of people around the world heard about their plight. They needed a specially trained dog for their autistic son. Within weeks, the website called "LoveDrop" surprised the family with $13,000 - enough to pay for the pooch.

"People were giving up coffee drinking for a month and using that money to give to money for us,” said Angela.

LoveDrop, Give Forward, Mommy Niri Cares and Drop a Love Bomb are just a few of the growing number of sites created with the goal of connecting readers to people for a good cause.

"I wanted to use the same kind of idea from micro-giving in terms of time and attention and love,” said Nate St. Pierre, LoveDrop US co-founder.

"A lot of these sites, it's basically one or two people that really want to help and they don't want to go through the bureaucracy, and now, because of the power and the ease of creating your own site, they're able to very much personalize the giving options for people," said Ken Berger with Charity Navigator.

Berger says it's simple to set up sites. But he suggests, as with all giving, you use common sense.

"The challenge or the dangers is that because it's so easy to do someone of ill will that wants to create something that's really a fraud can just as easily do so. That's why we always say 'Use your head as well as your heart so your heart doesn't get broken,'" he said.

The LoveDrop guys agree, but say they're touched by people's willingness to give.

"I get to get up every single day and know that everything I do is making an impact, it's literally changing the world,” said St. Pierre.

One dollar at a time, one person at a time.

"I don't think there are words to even express the thank you. Just that… our lives are changed,” said Angela.

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