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After Yesterday’s Tragic Attack, Manchester Comes Together on Twitter to Offer Help & Hope

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We’re still trying to wrap our minds around yesterday’s horrific tragedy in Manchester that left, at last count, 22 people dead and 59 injured. The attack targeted the attendees of an Ariana Grande concert, many of whom were teens and even children.

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When Kaila wrote up the news Monday night, she included a clip from a beautiful interview with Mr. Rogers, in which he talks about looking for the “helpers” in times of crisis and catastrophe. That when things are at their worst, there will still, always, be people helping. And that those are the people to look for.

Last night, Manchester turned out to be full of helpers.

Using the hashtag #RoomforManchester, city residents were offering up spare rooms, sofas, phone chargers, kind company, and, because this is England, a lot of tea.

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That’s just a few of the hundreds of people offering help in any way they can.

People also used the #Manchester hashtag to locate their loved ones. Pictures of missing young people have hundreds and thousands of retweets each. And with so many people banding together, there have already been some heartwarming outcomes.

Nothing can undo the devastation of an attack like this. But it’s important to look for the helpers, look for the kindness, because it’s out there, in abundance.

Teen Vogue’s Lauren Duca shared an email she got from a 23-year-old fan in Manchester, describing the reaction inside the city.

It reads:

We in this city have not reacted to this terror attack with vitriol; or with fear. We have not even reacted in open defiance (yet). Our first reaction has been to take to the streets with water, with supplies, to open our homes to those who are stranded and also, sadly, to guide the families who have lost their children through to the centre of a city they don’t know. If you do choose to write about us, please know that [we] reacted with kindness, empathy, and love. Not with hate.

(featured image: screengrab, ABC)

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Vivian Kane
Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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