According to a January 2 article from Mashable, Facebook is more than just a place to interact with friends. Recently, it also became the place where Dan Garrett, 36, of Seattle, found a kidney. Unable to find a suitable donor among his friends and family, Garrett’s wife took the search for a donor to Facebook. A 26-year-old, Aly Carr, stepped forward to offer one of her kidneys to the man. It’s just one of many examples of Facebook being part of the story rather than just a place to share it. Here are some more:
* Following the March, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support group began on Facebook. According to the mission statement of the group, which has more than 46,000 members, “JEARS Media is to support the shelters that are providing long-term care for the still growing number of Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support (JEARS) animals.” The group assisted in organizing food, supplies and donations, as well as volunteer searches and adoption outreach. As the new year dawned on Japan, the organization shared Facebook updates on some of their rescues, including several dogs, cats, and even some chickens.
* In mid-December, according to a CBC News report, when thieves stole more than $3,000 worth of toys meant for needy families in Pigeon Lake, Alberta, an Edmonton mortgage broker made an appeal on Facebook for people to give money to help the Pigeon Lake Child and Family Society replace those toys. Within a day, $4,500 was donated for the cause.
* According to a May 24, 2011, Poynter article, following the tornado in Joplin last spring, the local newspaper – the Joplin Globe – set up a Facebook page so that survivors could connect with family members and friends. The page received 5,000 “likes” and became a place where people were able to share their stories, both happy and sad. The Globe’s page was one of several set up on Facebook in the days following the tornado, though the American Red Cross stated that such reunion resources are better coordinated through a single site, such as its Safe and Well registry.
* One woman, born in 1966, was looking for her birth mother this week and a birth mother wrote that she has never stopped thinking about the son she put up for adoption in 1991. Someone was trying to find a niece that was placed for adoption in 1973. Another posted the announcement that her birth sister had just accepted her friend request. These are all recent posts on Facebook’s Find My Family Adoption Reunion Registry. According to the registry, which has more than 2,700 “likes,” one in fifteen people are affected by adoption and nearly 20,000 are registered with the Mutual Consent Adoption Registry, which was established as a way for adoptees and birth families to find one another. The Find My Family organization set up the Facebook page “to be a user-friendly and safe place where adoptees and birth family members can find one another at no charge,” the organization’s overview page states.
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