- The Maui wildfires continue to captivate the world's attention
- Many celebrities want to help with fundraising
- THIS is what Oprah and Dwayne Johnson are doing together
As CTV News has recently reported, Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson have committed US$10 million to make direct payments to victims of displacement due to the Maui wildfires. The money is destined specifically for those who are unable to return to their homes because of the devastation, through a new fund they announced this Thursday.
Both Oprah and Johnson are known for their charitable good deeds and for always doing what they can to help. And now they have seen the chance to come together for the greater good.
The aim is to give back to those who have lost so much
The People's Fund of Maui will give US$1,200 a month to adults who are not able to return to their primary residences because of the recent wildfires. This also includes people who owned and rented their homes, according to the fund's website. Apart from their own money, the fund will also seek donations from the public to extend the length of time it can provide the support.
"How do we help?" Johnson says he and Winfrey asked each other that question during the wildfires. They announced in a joint video that they thought long and hard about how they might best direct their efforts. "You want to take care of the greatest need of the people, and that's giving them money," Johnson said.
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The actor in private
They were inspired by a fund set up by Dolly Parton after wildfires swept through Gatlinburg, Tennessee in December 2016. Jeff Conyers, president of The Dollywood Foundation, said he consulted with Winfrey's team multiple times in the past weeks to share the lessons that they'd learned from administrating the fund, which eventually granted US$11 million to families who had lost their homes!
"Dolly's idea was that, `Hey, look, these are my people and I want to take care of them and we trust them to know what recovery looks like for themselves and their families in the days and weeks following this immediate catastrophe here,"' Conyers said.
And it should be fairly easy for folks to access the fund. To qualify for the People's Fund of Maui, applicants must show a government ID and a utility bill in their name for a lost or uninhabitable residence, the fund's website said.
Oprah, who lives on Maui part-time, visited an emergency shelter on Maui in the days after the wildfire hit where at least 115 people were killed; though an unknown number of people are still missing.
Winfrey and Johnson said they consulted with "community elders, leaders and residents [...]" to work together the best strategy.
Their efforts will no doubt inspire many others to help as well, and the fundraising will surely go a long way! The people of Maui will be forever grateful.
