People need COVID relief NOW. Instead, they're pleading for help on crowdfunding websites

*CARE2 UPDATE* Good news! Congress has passed the American Rescue Plan, Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package. But this lifesaving legislation still needs to pass in the Senate, so keep signing and sharing the petition!

The CEO of GoFundMe, a Good Samaritan-type donation-based fundraising site, said it best when he wrote an opinion piece in USA Today:

"Hello Congress, Americans need help and we can't do your job for you."

This CEO runs a multi-million dollar organization. If Tim Cadogan were like any other CEO, he could easily focus on the "positives" that come from the skyrocketing use of his website. He could even be overjoyed that tens of thousands of Americans are turning to GoFundMe to try and crowdsource money from kind strangers to get through pandemic-induced tough economic times.

But instead, the obviously over-the-top need for GoFundMe's help alarmed him instead. In fact, it alarmed him so much, he's openly turning to the U.S. Congress, pleading with them to finally do the right thing and pass much-needed economic relief for struggling families.

And he's right. Congress needs to get its act together. We demand that Congress pass COVID stimulus package to help everyday families, now!

Businesses are shutting down. Evictions are surging. Unemployment is at its highest recorded rate in recent memory. Americans can't afford groceries, pet food, rent, utilities, or even — in the middle of a pandemic — medical bills. And so far, it's not getting better. According to Cadogan, starting around a year ago with the start of the pandemic, upwards of 30% of fundraising efforts on the website had to do with COVID-19. During just one six-month period, more than 150,000 people launched new COVID-related fundraisers.

But publicly pleading for charitable donations online is NOT the way families should have to survive in this country. The United States of America is one of the richest countries in the entire world. Yet we force our people to turn to privately-owned website corporations, make them spill their personal stories and share their pain with the rest of the world, in order to hopefully maybe make ends meet? What kind of a society are we, if this is the only option we leave for people?

We've reduced people to begging for donations from strangers on crowdfunding websites. But it is our government's job to use our tax-funded money to make sure NO family has to turn to sites like GoFundMe just to keep their children fed, clothed, housed, and safe during a pandemic. As Tim Cadogan says: "our platform was never meant to be a source of support for basic needs, and it can never be a replacement for robust federal COVID-19 relief that is generous and targeted to help the millions of Americans who are struggling."

He's right. This is Congress's job. It's what we elect them to do. And they need to finally be responsible for their people: us. Congress has sat on its haunches long enough while American families suffer. It's time for them to do their jobs and recognize their responsibilities to the everyday people who put them in Congress.

Sign the petition to demand they pass ample COVID-19 relief funding now!
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