With a few clicks, UF students ordering textbooks on Amazon.com can now donate money to a local charity at no extra cost.
Friends of the Crisis Center will receive 0.5 percent of every purchase made when an Amazon user buys an item through AmazonSmile and selects the organization as their charity of choice. Amazon users can choose the organization for as long as AmazonSmile is available.
“For us, every little bit helps,” said Wendy Brant, Friends of the Crisis Center president. “Even if it’s a quarter.”
Friends of the Crisis Center is a nonprofit organization that helps fund and support the programs and volunteers of the Alachua County Crisis Center. The money made from AmazonSmile will go toward outreach programs, volunteer training and travel expenses to send volunteers to conferences, Brant said.
Brant said AmazonSmile accepted her organization about six weeks ago. She got the idea to apply after an AmazonSmile option appeared when she was ordering on the site.
Now, she’s encouraging as many people as possible to utilize the program.
“The Crisis Center is so important for the community, and not a lot of people know about the center or the services available,” Brant said. “So it’s also about raising awareness.”
Hailey McComb, a UF psychology sophomore, said she’s never heard of the Alachua County Crisis Center.
“If I knew more about the center and was more informed, I would definitely help out,” the 19-year-old said.
Every year, about 180 trained volunteers provide more than 40,000 hours of community service in crisis and suicide intervention at the Alachua County Crisis Center, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
