Federal workers flood GoFundMe amid shutdown
Desperate government workers and others dependent on federal checks have opened GoFundMe accounts to try to raise money during the shutdown to pay for everything from baby formula to mortgages.
Some have pleas like “HELP my mom” and “shutdown has me drowning.”
Julie Burr, a contractor from Kansas City, Mo., has collected $10,673, more than doubling her goal of $5,000, after she said she was a single mom struggling with two kids and appearing on CNN.
GoFundMe has already seen about 1,000 campaigns raising more than $100,000 to support those affected by the shutdown.
But most of the accounts aren’t taking in much more than a few hundred bucks.
A Coast Guard member, Janton Lewis, from Staten Island is seeking $4,000 for “bills and rent” through GoFundMe.
Sparkle Jones-Hairston of Yonkers said she needs $10,000 in emergency funding during the shutdown because she lives “paycheck to paycheck.” She’s picked up $70 so far.
And a TSA worker from Elmont, LI, who’s “forced to go to work for free” amid the shutdown, raised $395 of a $5,000 goal.
But not everyone was sympathetic.
“Live within your means or get a different job . . . So disgraceful you have to resort to begging on GoFundMe,” one person wrote.
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