HILLSBOROUGH CO., Fla. — We hear stories all the time about the downsides of social media. Scams, crimes, privacy breaches and political division. But this time social media is uniting a Bay Area community and saving a single mom from losing her home.
The past three months have been nothing but grueling work for Jessica, a mother of four.
"It's draining and exhausting," she said.
We're not showing her face or giving out her full name because Jessica is a survivor of domestic violence. Despite her hard work she fell behind on her rent. It was so bad she was about to be homeless.
Until someone sent her to a Facebook group. Friends of Fishhawk is a non-profit that posts about needs in the community and members step in to help through sponsorships.
They babysat, they donated furniture and food. In just hours they raised $2,500 — enough money to pay for nearly two months of rent.
"To come to a place where strangers can just be so amazing to you and treat you with such love it's just the best feeling," said Jessica.
Help arrived just in time. You see her 9-year-old was born with a hole in his heart and got sick again.
"A couple of months ago he went in the hospital with pneumonia and they realized the hole was back in his heart," she said.
This Friday he'll undergo open heart surgery.
"Whether you have a $1, $5, 10 minutes to spare to do just something good for someone else it's just food for the soul," said Kelly Rowjohn, executive director of Friends of Fishhawk.
Rowjohn wasn't surprised people were willing to help. She sees the positive power of social media every day.
"People that come to me--elderly people on a fixed income. They'll bring me $3 and they'll say this is all I have left over for the month and I want you to have it," she said.
Rowjohn is working on helping the nonprofit grow and help out many others like Jessica.
