Ellen DeGeneres starts GoFundMe page to raise $5 million for Australian bushfire relief: 'They need our help'
In a bid to help firefighters battling the bushfires raging in Australia, Ellen DeGeneres has already made donations to the Rural Fire Service, Australian Red Cross and Wires Wildlife Rescue. Now, the popular talk show host is urging her fans to do the same. DeGeneres created a GoFundMe page in the hopes to raise US$5million (AU$7.278million) for the bushfires relief. She announced the launch of the fundraiser on her daytime talk show and started with, "I love Australia. I love Australia so much I even married an Australian."
"Wildfires have been burning for four months and with record-breaking heat. The winds are so strong and it is getting worse. Thousands of people have been displaced. Homes have been burned. Lives have been lost. Nearly half a billion animals have been killed. Nearly a third of their habitat has been destroyed," she continued.
DeGeneres' GoFundMe page will "help the firefighters, the people, the animals of Australia" as she revealed that one of her show's partners would be contributing $100,000 to the fund. She concluded her request by saying, "It is going to take years for Australia to rebuild... Be kind to one another."
Earlier, she raised awareness on bushfires when while she accepted the Carol Burnett Award at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles. "I gotta say right now, we're all celebrating here, we're all dressed up, we're acting like this is the most important night. I mean, we're all pretending like everything is fine. It's not fine," DeGeneres had said at the award ceremony.
"There are people that have lost everything. I mean, Australia is such an amazing place! The people are so amazing. The number of animals that have been lost..." she had added. She also shared that it was important for her to bring up the Australian bushfires during her acceptance speech so that the Australians did not think that the international community had forgotten them.
The bushfires have claimed at least 25 lives while an estimated half a billion animals have perished in the raging fire.
