With tonnes of donated goods and loads of money pouring in after Typhoon Morakot hit southern Taiwan, a group of students launched an online campaign to “collect” emotional support for victims of the disaster.
Organizers of the campaign Beating Heart asked people who would like to show emotional support for the victims to send a picture of them forming a heart shape with their hands and a few lines of encouragement to one of the organizers’ e-mail accounts (twinklinglittlestar.33@gmail.com).
Participants can also choose to film a 30-second video clip of them, saying a few words to encourage the victims while forming a heart shape with their hands, the organizers said.
The organizers said they would produce a music video with the pictures and the video clips dedicated to the victims and broadcast the music video on TV and the Internet.
The chief organizer of the campaign, who went by the name Xiaopo (小波), told the Taipei Times during a telephone interview that the campaign was meant to serve as a channel for people who had been unable to make major donations or get involved in volunteer work to show how much they care about the victims.
“Typhoon Morakot is like a double-edged sword. It affected not only the victims, but also those who watched footage of the disaster on TV and felt they were unable to do much to help,” said Xiaopo, a student at the Fu Jen Catholic University.
“I’m a college student. I don’t have a lot of money to donate [to the victims] or have the power to call on [people to help with relief efforts], but I can pick up a camera [to show my concern] ... and a beating heart,” Xiaopo wrote on his Web blog.
The campaign had attracted 1,268 participants since it was launched on Wednesday. The organizers have extended the deadline of the campaign to Friday.
“We were surprised by the warmhearted support of so many people,” Xiaopo said.
Xiaopo said the organizers also hoped to put together a team to help students affected by the disaster with their schoolwork after the fall semester begins.
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