Most communities have programs to assist those in need, as well as myriad resources offering advice to anyone facing daily dilemmas. But not all of those are available at the other end of a computer connection, immediately when the need arises.
That’s where Facebook “helping hands” groups come in, with at least two serving the greater Twin Ports.
“I grew up in Superior and I did a lot of moving with the military,” said Corinne Yrjanainen, who moderates the group Superior, WI Community Help with Ruby Berg. “I realized that many of those places have community help Facebook groups, and Superior didn’t have one, so I decided to start it.”
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Jacqueline Brantley noticed the same need in greater Duluth after years of volunteering, including at homeless shelters, leading her to create Helping Hands in the Northland.
Together the sites offer advice and resources to anyone who logs on, with a willing pool of community members eager to assist. They spoke about their pages with WPR’s Robin Washington on “Morning Edition.”
The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Robin Washington: The very first thing we should say about both of your sites is that they’re free. This isn’t Facebook Marketplace and no one’s supposed to be making money on your pages.
Corinne Yrjanainen: Correct. We do allow people to advertise their business, but it’s not a personal selling site where people can post things like clothes for sale.
Jacqueline Brantley: Everything on our site is free. We’re just not comfortable accepting cash, where people wonder where it’s going to or coming from. And I think it’s just simpler to keep a free site where there are no discrepancies.
RW: What’s a typical request?
JB: A lot of people are asking for food assistance. That is one of the greatest needs in our community. Also rental assistance, electricity bills, diapers, formula, kids clothing.
CJ: On the Superior site, it’s a little more wide-ranging. People can post questions or start a discussion about property taxes going up, how to get in touch with somebody, misdelivered packages, lost and found pets or just general information — like “I have this problem and I don’t know how to solve it. Does anybody have any advice?”
RW: How quickly are people able to fulfill requests?
CJ: They’re usually resolved within a couple hours.
RW: You both allow anonymous posting. Why?
CJ: We do it so that people feel safe when asking for things that might be embarrassing, or they might be trying to get out of a situation where they don’t want the public to know about it. We require approval for anonymous posts, so people don’t say, “Oh, this is a scammer.” We vet the person. And sometimes, it’s because, unfortunately, people feel shame for needing help, and that’s not what our group is about.
JB: We do back-office vetting as well, just to ensure that there are no scammers on there. That’s one of the reasons why we don’t accept cash. And people sometimes have situations where they want to remain protected. We definitely check them out and we protect everybody’s privacy and rights.
RW: What are some of the most memorable posts? I noticed before Christmas, there were several from people who were unemployed but looking for gifts for their kids.
JB: Yes. Everybody was pitching in, not only for gifts, but for Christmas meals. And there were people who were spending the holidays alone who opened their doors to other people and opened their hearts and their wallets as well.
CJ: We recently had someone post about having squirrels in their house who needed advice on how to get them out. And someone posted about the rough railroad crossings in Superior. That gained a lot of traction — it actually got your attention. You did a piece about it last week!
If you have an idea about something in northern Wisconsin you think we should talk about on Morning Edition — including an opposing view on this subject — send it to us at northern@wpr.org.
