Facebook Lends a Hand

Hurricane Harvey has ravished the greater Houston area and surrounding communities in Texas. Relief efforts have already begun with the help of donations. Many organizations are stepping up and donating large sums of money toward the relief efforts. One of the most recent and notable pledges has come from Facebook.

In a recent post, Facebooks CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated:

"Over the past few days, thousands of you have asked for help and offered help on Facebook to people who have been affected by Hurricane Harvey using Safety Check and Community Help. Now we want to give everyone another way to make a difference."

Zuckerberg pledged that Facebook will match the donations up to $1 million on the site. Finishing his post by saying:

“Now, we want to give everyone another way to make a difference. It may take years for the community to fully recover, but together with the CDP, we can help families and businesses get back on their feet.”

The donation will be sent in through the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to taking donor funds during a time of disaster and maximizing the scope of its effect.

The donation comes shortly after Facebook made their safety check feature permanent on the site. According to an article posted on DigitalTrends.com, the safety check is a feature within Facebook which allows users to "check in" with friends and family letting them know they are safe.

Facebook has seemingly taken interest in the safety of their users, not only on the site but in their everyday lives as well. Features like safety check have made a great impact during Hurricane Harvey.

Many large companies have been stepping up their everyday safety features. These same companies are donating large sums of money to natural disasters. Along with Facebook, companies like Walmart, Dell, Verizon according to CNN Money and others have helped raise nearly $160 million dollars so far for the victims of Hurricane Harvey as of September 3rd.