Here's How You Can Change Your Facebook Photo To Support Las Vegas Shooting Victims
Around 10 p.m. PST on Sunday, Oct 1. in Las Vegas, Nevada, a lone gunman started shooting into the crowd of the Route 91 Harvest music festival while Jason Aldean was performing. The mass shooting killed at least 58 people and injured over 515, making it the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, according to reports. In the aftermath of tragedies such as this, social media provides users with the ability to change their profile pictures with a commemorative filter in a showing of solidarity for the victims. If you'd like to change your Facebook photo to support Vegas shooting victims, there's one way to do it.
You start off by going to Facebook and clicking the "Update Profile Picture" icon that appears when you place your cursor on top of your profile picture. Once you've clicked "update," you have the option to either upload a new photo, add a frame, or edit your thumbnail. In this case, you want to add a frame.
Once you click "add a frame," you can choose from a selection of preloaded frames. As of right now, there is only one for Vegas, but it is likely that Facebook will add more. The current frame was made by Rosemint Media.
Although changing your profile picture/posting on social media in support of those affected is positive, it's important to supplement that showing of solidarity with action. If you're in Nevada and are able to make it to a donation center, consider donating blood to hospitals that are in need of it. Over 500 people have been admitted to neighboring hospitals in Nevada as a result of the attack, so donating blood could undoubtedly save lives.
There are six donation centers you can go to in Nevada that will be aiding those affected by the shooting. They're located in Carson City, Henderson, Sparks, Reno, Craig Rd. in Las Vegas, and Charleston Boulevard in Las Vegas.
If you're unable to give blood, consider donating to the various fundraising campaigns on sites like GoFundMe, which have been set up for the Las Vegas shooting victims. (But, first, do your best to verify their authenticity so you know your money is going toward actual aid, as there are a lot of hoaxes floating around the internet right now.)
You can also donate to the Volunteers in Medicine of Southern Nevada center, which will likely be helping the victims in any way it can. The website for the center says it is dedicated to "quality health care and support for people without access to health care in Southern Nevada within a culture of caring."
Celebrities, politicians, activists, and more have been showing displays of solidarity on social media all day in the aftermath of the deadly shooting. Many are calling for common sense gun control policy.
One of the mothers of a victim of the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, spoke out loudly on Twitter the morning after the attack, calling out Congress for not doing more to prevent senseless and preventable acts of violence like this. Nelba Márquez-Greene said in a tweet on Monday, Oct. 2, "In America we value guns, flags & fake acts of patriotism over people, pain & real acts of courage. #LasVegas #TakeAKnee #EndGunViolence."
She added in another tweet, "I don’t know what to say besides this is on every congressperson who said in ‘13: There is simply nothing we could do. #LasVegas#Newtown."
She also posted a heartbreaking tweet that read, "You don't recover from this- as a mother, brother, father. You manage. But there is no recovery. I am heartbroken. #LasVegas #Newtown." According to Márquez-Greene's Twitter bio, both her son and her daughter were at Sandy Hook Elementary School the day of the shooting in 2012. Her son survived, but her daughter didn't.
In the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting, people on social media can't help but be reminded of all of the other senseless mass shootings that have occurred over the years. Many cite Sandy Hook as the breaking point at which Congress should have drawn the line and made effective legislation to put an end to deadly gun violence.
