HelpersUnite.com creates virtual Hurricane Sandy Resource Center to help afflicted Crowdfund donations for individual families, provide real time data, and share personal photos from Instagram of the storm.

New York, NY -- (SBWire) -- 10/31/2012 --As the East coast recovers from Hurricane Sandy, one of the worst storms in recent history, helping families rebuild has become a key priority.

http://www.HelpersUnite.com, a donation based crowdfunding site, has transformed its social giving and support site into a full-blown hurricane emergency relief center for hurricane victims near Albany, Atlantic City, Buffalo, Manhattan, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, New York City, Rochester, Syracuse, Yonkers, Schenectady and Utica, New York.

The Crowdfunding site is waving all commissions and operating fees, ensuring all donations go directly to those in need. They are also reaching out to families and urging them to start campaigns of their own if they are in need of help.

“People want to help”, says Maurice Lopes, CEO of EarlyShares, the parent company of HelpersUnite. “They want to reach out and give $25 or $50 and know that it is going directly to a family in need to help fix their home or buy a hot meal. They want to share their story and feel like they are making first hand.”

The resource center was launched to help people that need assistance, offering real time information and storm tracking as well as a real time image library through Instagram so people can see the stories coming in from real people all over the web.

“Crowdfunding is a social donation tool that makes it easier to share the burden of loss,” says Lopes. “We want people who need help to know that there are resources and the power of a crowd supporting them. If you know people that suffered a big loss we encourage you to post a campaign on their behalf as well. Imagine the gratitude that a single mother of four kids whose house was partially destroyed by a falling tree would feel if one hundred perfect strangers each donated $100 to help her when they viewed her story, pictures, and videos of how the storm affected her family.”

The HelpersUnite platform is a subsidiary of EarlyShares, both examples of a new type of capital fundraising platform that is quickly gaining recognition for its ability to harness the power of community giving. Instead of donating money to a large emergency relief organization, where donors receive temporary shelter and a meal as a quick fix, HelpersUnite.com allows real people affected by this catastrophe to post pictures and videos showing donors what they lost and how their donation will help them achieve in re-establishing themselves and their families.

“We strongly encourage Mayor Andrew Como, emergency relief workers, and emergency housing shelters in New York to post this free service on their hurricane relief websites, blogs, social networks, and Twitter accounts so that people who need help can actually receive it in real time,” stated Luan Cox, from HelpersUnite.com. “We are currently seeking to build relationships with businesses looking to match donations for those in need or with wire transfer services such as Western Union that can us help deliver funds to families that do not have access to their local banks and credit unions. Helpers let’s Unite and help the victims of Hurricane Sandy.”

About HelpersUnite.com
HelpersUnite.com is the world's first platform to combine creative and entrepreneurial Crowdfunding to help fund natural disaster recovery with charitable giving initiatives. Sharing the burden of natural disasters by over thousands of people to help a single family is a godsend for people that want to help out of the kindness of their hearts and people who are heartbroken by a traumatizing event such as an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, or typhoon.

About EarlyShares.com
EarlyShares.com provides entrepreneurs and investors with a new way to connect and raise capital in exchange of equity. Entrepreneurs can raise money by tapping into a 'crowd' of like-minded people investing small amounts in exchange for a stake in the new venture / business- known as equity-based crowdfunding. They may also receive some small token or product (rewards or perks) in exchange for that investment.