Clubhouse Is Disrupting Another Industry: Charity Telethons

A Clubhouse charity drive raised more than $140,000 for Texans hit by disaster

Colleen Hagerty
OneZero

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Photo: SOPA Images/Getty Images

When Harold Hughes first heard the winter weather predictions on February 14, he was skeptical — what exactly did they mean by icy weather in Austin, Texas? But when Hughes looked out the window that night, he could already see the snow coming down. The next morning, he estimated six or seven inches were coating his yard.

This is real, he thought.

In the days that followed, the state’s electrical grid flirted with collapse, leaving millions in the dark amidst freezing temperatures. Hughes considers his family fortunate since they never lost power and had enough time to prepare before their water was shut off. They stocked up on water bottles and filled pots with snow, which they boiled and used to flush their toilet to his son’s amusement.

“We were in a great position, a great, great, great position,” Hughes told OneZero the following week. “So I was thinking, like, ‘How do I take my position of privilege here and connect some resources to help others?’”

He decided to leverage his active social networks. The same day his family lost water, he hosted a room on the audio-only app Clubhouse. What started out as a…

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Colleen Hagerty
OneZero
Writer for

Colleen Hagerty is a freelance multimedia journalist specializing in disaster reporting. More at www.colleenhagerty.com.