Bay Area Charities Rely On Social Media To Generate Donations Over The Holidays
(KCBS) - With the holiday season quickly upon us, charities are getting anxious for donations from generous Bay Area residents. One way they seem to be connecting is social media.
Organizations that feed the hungry say they're enjoying successful donation drives, thanks to their online efforts to reach the pubic.
"We need these donations," stressed Karl Robillard, Communications and Outreach Senior Manager at St. Anthony Foundation. "We're excited, people are really rallying, but we feel very confident. I mean, San Franciscans, they always are able to really help us meet that need."
The Foundation's free, annual Thanksgiving meal is a 62-year-old tradition. With just days to go before the event, several hundred turkeys were still needed to make this year's event a reality.
"Donations are really coming in and we appreciate that. We're still hoping to reach that 1,000 mark," said Robillard. "We're using Facebook, Twitter and e-mail, just really trying to cast the net very wide."
Turkey donations were being accepted at 150 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco.
KCBS' Susan Kennedy Reports:
In San Jose, Cityteam International, which has been feeding the homeless since 1957, has also turned to Facebook and Twitter to ask for donations, and also to spotlight the Bay Area families in need.
"That's really brought in a lot of new people who have never helped us before," suggested Carol Patterson, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Cityteam International.
"It was almost in 30 minutes, we would get response rates back from people saying 'I can bring a turkey, I can bring canned goods, my whole office wants to bring canned goods and turkeys,'" she described the response when Cityteam International would post a request online.
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