(NewsNation Now) — A viral meme page creator is teaming up with other popular social media accounts to help Ukraine during the Russian invasion.
Joseph Yomtoubian runs one of the biggest meme pages on Instagram: @thetinderblog, with more than 4 million followers. He has seven more pages, each with a large following of its own.
After watching the news of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine Sunday night, Yomtoubian said he was “horrified.”
“With such a big reach, I felt it was an obligation to use our platform for good,” he said.
Yomtoubian then got to work, messaging other viral accounts and asking them to raise money for Hope for Ukraine using a new feature on Instagram that allows for group fundraising.
Hope for Ukraine, according to its website, provides support and rehabilitation for wounded soldiers returning home from Eastern Ukraine’s conflict zone, while also providing poor children and youth with critical resources and programs.
To donate, people can go to the Tinderblog’s meme page, or @delightfulnews, another one of Yomtoubian’s accounts. At the top of the profile, Hope for Ukraine is listed as a fundraiser.
“You can simply click on it and donate,” Yomtoubin said, adding that Hope for Ukraine is vetted by Meta, Instagram’s parent company, and donations are tax-deductible.
Close to 300 people have donated so far. In only three days, the pages were able to raise more than $3,900, which is a little less than half of their $10,000 goal.
“The response has been extremely powerful,” Yomtoubian said.
So now, Yomtoubian said, they’re getting even more ambitious.
“I’m hoping to actually raise the goal to $25,000,” Yomtoubian said. “We were very, very fortunate to be doing so well in such a short period of time.”