By BRITTANY SANFORD
For Word News
NUTLEY, N.J. (WordNews.org) July 3, 2012 — An online community of caregivers made it possible for Michael Demarco, a parishioner at the liquid church in Nutley, N.J., to create a community of hope for the less fortunate.
In the past, Demarco volunteered much of his time at the Faith Reformed Church Food Pantry in Lodi. While there, he felt an urge to do more for those in need. The supply of money and food decreased as the demand for it increased. It was during these times that he used
YouGiveGoods.com to began an easy and convenient food drive.
YouGiveGoods.com is an easy way for organizations to develop and operate food drives. The main idea is to allow organizations and small groups to attract sincere supporters. It gives the public opportunity to buy food without leaving their homes. The web based program then delivers the food for free.
“Our core philosophy is to make it as easy as possible for people to help out so that more people do.,” said Pat O’Neill, CEO of YouGiveGoods.com, a for-profit organization. “It’s easy to set up a food drive. People my set up an account and become a member, or they may donate supplies as a guest. If a group or organization would like to start a drive, they simply fill out a form and we set up their page.”
O’Neill said the thought behind YouGiveGoods.com was prompted about two and a half years ago during the Great Recession.
“We saw a lot of organizations weren’t getting support and the number of needy people were growing, so we developed the website to make it easier for people to donate to different organizations,” O’Neill said.
Demarco was one of the many members of the new website. He was determined to make a difference. Demarco began his food drive on May 20 with a low expectation of raising $500. His goal was met in three days. Feeling elated, he more than tripled his first goal to $1,772. By June 9, $3,529 worth of food was raised.
O’Neill feels that this type of result is possible because it is convenient to give.
“We feel our online food drive is very effective for three reasons,” O’Neill said. “One reason is there’s many who want to support but don’t for one reason or another. We get support from Americans as well other countries. Reason number two is the average value we receive is over $50 worth of food which equals three to five bags of food. The third [reason] is the items available online are the items pantries need to complete their mission. Usually pantries throw 5 to 25 percent of food away because they can’t use it.”
O’Neill has really been pleased at how fast their website is growing. They receive great feedback on a daily bases because of dedicated members like Demarco. He said the members of YouGiveGoods.com feel privileged to be a light of hope and a ministry of love to their brothers and sisters around the world.
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