More than $100 million has been donated to victims of the Los Angeles wildfires through GoFundMe campaigns — the popular crowdfunding platform that verifies all accounts to protect against scams.
The massive outpouring of funds will directly help families, communities and businesses affected by the fires and support nonprofits providing relief on the ground, including World Central Kitchen, Direct Relief and the Salvation Army, according to a company spokesperson.
More than 100,000 residents have been displaced since the wildfires — initially fueled by hurricane strength winds — destroyed more than 10,000 properties in coastal communities near Los Angeles. The blazes were blamed for 25 deaths, and 26 people remain missing.
The scale and scope of the devastation has shocked people from around the world who have opened their hearts and wallets to help those affected.
Among those receiving donations through GoFundMe campaigns were John Stuhlman, 53, a fire inspector with the Los Angeles Fire Department, and his wife, Monica, who lost their house of 17 years in the Eaton fire that tore through their hometown of Altadena.
“It’s ground zero there. It’s like a bomb hit,” Monica Stuhlman told The Post.
“It’s like Beirut or something.”
Monica Stuhlman told The Post that LAFD personnel helped her and her husband search for valued possessions in the wreckage, including her wedding ring and her wedding dress.
“Firefighters gathered trying to find my jewelry but everything melted,” she said, breaking down in tears.
John Stuhlman is mourning other valuable heirlooms, including his Marine Corps uniform as well as his father’s uniform.
“The only thing we had was the clothes that we left with,” he told The Post.
Monica Stuhlman said the possessions she and her husband lost were “not replacable.”
“In a moment, it was gone. Our life just changed from one minute to another,” she said.
The Stuhlmans and their dog, Winston, are staying at a friend’s house. In the meantime, they are soliciting donations through GoFundMe.
As of Thursday, their campaign has raised $5,435 toward their goal of $24,000.
Dale Short, 91, lost the Pasadena home in which he had been living for six decades.
“I’ve got 60 years of memories in that house,” Short told CBS News as he stood just just feet away from the charred ruins.
“It really hasn’t hit me all yet.”.
The GoFundMe started for Short has raised more than $103,608 — including anonymous donations as large as $5,000.
The financial relief comes amid several scams, including one that uses false social media campaigns to solicit funds.
A friend of Erin Berkowitz, a natural dye artist, created a GoFundMe campaign a day after last Tuesday’s inferno torched her home in Altadena in hopes of scraping together enough money to replace lost materials and art supplies.
But the following day, she discovered that someone created a carbon copy of the same campaign using a fake Instagram account that used her information.
The fake campaign appeared real except for the webpage URL, which was slightly different. Berkowitz and her friends and relatives reported the fake fundraiser, which was removed within 24 hours, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“To deal with that at the worst moment of my life, like the scariest, most upsetting, saddening moment of my life,” she told the Times.
“For that then to be happening was also just extremely worrying and stressful.”
GoFundMe says that it has a team that monitors and verifies fundraisers.
“We have zero tolerance for the misuse of our platform and will cooperate with law enforcement investigations of those accused of wrongdoing,” a GoFundMe spokesperson told The Post.
“Misuse on GoFundMe is very rare. Donors are also protected by the GoFundMe Giving Guarantee, which guarantees donors a full refund in the rare case something isn’t right.”
GoFundMe, which started its own crowdfunding campaign that seeks to raise $5 million, also launched a dedicated online hub to make it easy for people to find campaigns to donate to or start one themselves for a family in need.
“Our California wildfires centralized hub provides an easy way for people to help, housing all verified GoFundMe pages and nonprofit resources related to the wildfires in Southern California,” a GoFundMe spokesperson told Yahoo Life.