Over $7M raised to help Uvalde school shooting victims via GoFundMe hub
The world is uniting to ensure that finances are the last thing families affected by the Uvalde school shooting have to worry about. GoFundMe, an online donation website, has become a streamlined way for people to provide support.
In some cases, the pages serve as an outlet for the grieving families to share about their loved ones on their time, away from the barrage of media. The GoFundMe pages have served as place where the world is learning about the lives the 19 children and two teachers led, before they became the latest victims of another U.S. mass shooting.
Amerie Jo Garza, had just celebrated her 10th birthday, and was a light to everyone she knew, her GoFundMe page says. A page set up for Eva Mireles, one of the beloved and brave teachers who died protecting her students, is remembered as a “gift God let us borrow.” Eliahna Garcia is pictured in her first communion outfit and known as a little girl with big hugs.
Before news of the tragedy transcended international borders and national news narrowed in on the tiny, hardworking town of Uvalde, locals sprang into action. They planned trips 80 miles west to feed the community or finding ways to donate time, blood, and money. Around 5:30 p.m., hours after the shooting, GoFundMe alerted local media that a “hub” was launched to create a trusted, streamlined way to give to the people affected. In previous tragedies, whether manmade or natural disasters, phony campaigns have popped up, attempting to capitalize on the vulnerability of donors.
The hub holds campaigns for and from Uvalde that have been vetted and verified by GoFundMe’s Trust & Safety team so that donors can give with confidence, knowing the money is going to the rightful place, company spokeswoman Melanie Yost tells MySA.
As of this write, Yost says more than 150,000 donors from all 50 states and 91 countries have combined to raise a total of $7.5 million for Uvalde families. That number increases by the second. Visitors to the hub can see a ticker for each of the campaigns accrue multiple times beneath the photos of the smiling children now edited to have angel wings.
“It has been incredible watching the local and global community come together to support the Uvalde community on GoFundMe,” Yost tells MySA.
The hub now holds GoFundMe fundraisers for the survivors of the shooting, like Kendall Olivarez, Miah Cerrillo, and Arnulfo Reyes. The donations will help with medical costs and other expenses, like therapy. Yost says the verifying team is “constantly” reviewing fundraisers to add to the hub.
One of two GoFundMe pages for Irma Garcia, Mireles’ co-teacher, has raised the most funds. The page was solely dedicated to her until Thursday, May 26, when Garcia’s family revealed that her husband Joe Garcia had “died of a broken heart” in the wake of his wife’s death. The page was edited to include the news of Joe Garcia’s death shortly after. The couple’s GoFundMe has now raised more than $2 million. A second fundraiser, also launched by the family, has raised $557,000. Donations on the latter have been turned off to centralize the help, an update says.
Twitter philanthropist Bill Pulte has been mobilizing his 3 million followers to give to the campaigns. The Florida-based founder of PulteHomes released a statement via Twitter thanking his “Twitter Philanthropy Teammates” for helping shatter the goals set for the GoFundMe campaigns.
Also on Friday, May 27, the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center said that more than 2,000 people have showed up to give blood. It’s unclear if that count reflects the donors who showed up to give in Uvalde.
To be directed to the GoFundMe hub of verified Uvalde-related campaigns, follow this link.
