I have always been an admirer of the community that surrounds Squidoo. Many of us have stayed with Squidoo to help other people, and passed on our tidbits of expertise to newer Squidoo members. I have seen this sort of community build on other sites, and this, while helpful, is not the community that I am referring to.
What I am referring to is evidenced by the powerful response that occurs when active members of the Squidoo community are in acute crisis. I have seen this happen a number of times, and participated in helping others myself in a number of those circumstances.
The awesome creative power of the Squidoo community has come home to me two times, although I am sure that there are numerous examples of this that I am not going to point out in this particular article.
The first time I really saw what the Squidoo community could do to help out a fellow lensmaster was during the 500 Hats on Squidoo campaign put forth by lensmaster badmsm. badmsm was in a situation that had been repeated around the United States, and other parts of the world. She was going to lose her home to the bank if she didn’t come up with enough money to stave that off. Her crisis was due to job loss of both her husband and herself due to the downturn in the economy, and they had no traditional way to come up with enough money to save their home.
badmsm is a knitter, and she creatively came up with the idea of making hats for $10 a piece to help raise the money she needed. The hats could be for the buyer or they could be donated. This was a simple but ingenious idea that indeed, helped her save her family’s home from foreclosure. With lensmasters just buying one hat per person, she was able to raise the money $10 at a time.
Just this week, we have seen the power of the Squidoo community again, with the tragedy that has overcome Susan52 and her family, as their home was ravaged by fire. Within hours of hearing about the fire, several Squidoo lensmasters started spreading the news, and finding ways that the community could help Susan and her family. While we cannot replace Susan’s home for her, the help that we can provide through moral and financial support will certainly ease the way for Susan and her family to get back to living normal life.
The core part of the Squidoo community is made up of hundreds of lensmasters from very different backgrounds. We do not always agree on everything, and come from many varied political, religious, national, and cultural communities. However, when one of the active members of our Squidoo community is in need, others who are able will help out as they can.
This is one of the things that I am most proud of in being part of Squidoo. There are so many intangibles that add to the tangible result of making money, or promoting our businesses. If you have not been aware of what is happening to Susan, then go to the lens through the link above, and you can see if there is anything that you can do to help out someone who has been so supportive of others on Squidoo.
About lakeerieartists
I agree with you full heatedly. The fact that an online community can come together, and raise money and awareness for someone that most of us don’t know in true person is amazing. It really is like we are all one big family.
And so quickly, amazing.
The first time I saw the power of the Community was very shortly after I joined in 2008. Chef Keem posted in SquidU that a lensmaster had been flooded out of her home and lost nearly everything.
And that is what I think keeps the Community strong – if ever I start to get disheartened (and yes, I am human, it happens occasionally), I cannot imagine wanting to move away from this wonderful Community.
Coming from a small rural area in New Zealand, for most of my upbringing it was the norm that when someone near by was in dire need of assistance, be it financial or otherwise, the town would rally around and help in any way they could. It was normal to see my mother baking and knitting for people that had lost everything in a flood or fire. Sadly, that appears to be completely lacking where I live now (Sthn. California), although the church I attend does help in that way. Neighbours tend to turn a blind eye, (after they have finished ‘gawking’) and we are left to our own devices. I realise money is tight, but back home it seemed to be the poorest of people that would hand over what they could, without hesitation.
Squidoo is a great community of people on the whole. I wish society in general could get back to caring about one another in the way that one human being should care about another.
I am sure the support that Susan has received from lensmasters has been tremendously uplifting to her, in a time when she needed it most. God Bless all of you that contributed, whether it be financially or with prayers and good wishes.
It is probably easier to know and care about your neighbors plights in a small town than a big city where people are not all part of the same circles, but it is still good to know that there are people who want to help others, even in a small way.