Social media drives Philippines charity awareness
October 27th, 2009 by Tim Greenhalgh
Guest blogger Lorraine Warren, who is Director of Postgraduate Education and senior lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the School of Management at the University of Southampton, on Twitter power for good causes.
It’s fantastic to see that Jane Walker from Southampton, who founded the Philippine Community Fund in 1996 has recently been honoured at the 54th annual Women of the Year Lunch in London. In short, the PCF helps families scraping a living on dump sites in the poorest slums of Manila, including the notorious Smokey Mountain.
They take an holistic approach, providing education, food, healthcare and skills training to whole families, not just children. They are also innovators, for example building a school from 72 recycled shipping containers, due to open next June.
I became aware of the PCF almost by accident when I arrived in Southampton five years ago, through a chance reading of a newspaper article. It was the right time for me to sponsor a child. I was doing so well and I wanted some of that affluence to benefit someone with much less – and it cost so little, only £18 a month today. So began my relationship with Leonelyn.
For me, PCF’s achievements are writ large across the noticeboard in my office. The little girl I began sponsoring five years ago has changed so much. The first pictures I had of Leonelyn show a pretty little girl in a smart little blue school dress – but she looked so sad and shy.
Nowadays, I see pictures of her smiling and laughing, sometimes with her mother (and new baby brother), sometimes in school, dressed up at special events. Her letters brighten my wall too, multicoloured and getting better with every passing year.
Watch Jane Walker on news video:
Most people in Southampton will learn of Jane’s award, and indeed all the hard work she and her team have put into building PCF, through the local Daily Echo. As a sponsor I had already heard the story, but I was pleased to see it go out on Twitter as @dailyecho has 1358 followers including me. And what a great chance for social media to amplify the message!
The immediate RTs from me (as @doclorraine) and @timsgreenhalgh immediately got the message out to about another 1000 people. PCF could certainly do with any help that’s out there – the recent heavy rains have made conditions on the dumps even worse than usual. Now, I’m hoping that this blog post will send round another wave of interest.
Tags: Jane Walker, Lorraine Warren, PCF, Philippine Community Fund
