Local group has boots on the ground in Ebola fight

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A local group, co-founded by former Congresswoman Majorie Margolies, is joining the push to send supplies, training and aid to Ebola-stricken countries.

Margolies shot a public service spot in front of a green screen on Friday - a web based fund raising pitch for Women's Campaign International, a group she co-founded.

"Women's Campaign International has never done this before, we are reaching out to the community," said Margolies.

Massive outside help is on the way to help in the fallout of the Ebola outbreak in Liberia but headlines suggest it is slow in arriving.

Margolies' group has significant ties to Liberia. She says in seven years it has trained and economically empowered thousands of woman there.

Now those woman say if they are given basic tools quickly, they could make a difference.

Training and help needed includes getting food and water to quarantined families and removing contaminated bodies.

"They are calling us every day some crying, saying 'We can do this," said Margolies.

Action News talked via Skype with Wyeatta Moore, a Women's Campaign International staffer in Liberia. She says the government has been overwhelmed.

"It would be almost 48 to 72 hours to just get them to get a body and carry it to the crematorium," said Moore.

Moore says the community must step in to save itself. It needs training, vehicles, protective suits, masks and bleach.

"We need chlorine to disinfect the bodies, to disinfect the room where it will be taken from," said Moore.

Margolies has no doubt that outside help will arrive. However she says Women's Campaign International is there now, with local people who are trusted.

"Our women are reaching out and saying, 'We need it now, people are dying now,'" said Margolies.