Have You Known Anyone to use Gofundme

[hereyago]

Have you known anyone to use Gofundme? Interesting to see what kinds of things people want others to help pay for.

 

[ashley0139]

Yes, several times. Off the top of my head, one time someone wanted donations for her son to study abroad. Didn't donate to that one. Another, a coworker's daughter was severely ill and they were having trouble paying for all the medical procedures. Nicest family ever. I donated to that one.

 

[scrhsa]

Have you known anyone to use Gofundme? Interesting to see what kinds of things people want others to help pay for.

I know a person who used it to try and get 40,000 to pay off hospital bills. She only got about 4,000. It was quite a bit of a scam. She wailed about how horrible her life is being a single mom with all these hospital bills and a crappy ex- husband etc. Some of the surgeries she listed were from at least 10 years earlier and supposedly taken care of when she filed for bankruptcy about 5 yrs earlier. I believe she has some form of Munchausens. She is constantly lying about horrible things that happen to her and her kids. Her kids are constantly sick and in the hospital. If it's not her floor being flooded for the 3 time, its van breaking down or having the exact same foot surgery as another friend. One son has had multiple sinus surgeries and one kind of brain surgery. The other has ear problems and they both are on the autism spectrum. It's really kind of scary. And it's breaking my heart because she was one of my best friends.

 

[jevs]

There are probably genuine people who use it but a lot that I've come across look like scams to me so I generally stay clear.

I would prefer to donate directly as was the case when a local had terminal brain cancer and the community got behind him and his family to help with the burden, I knew exactly where my donation went.

The internet is a wonderful tool but has opened the doors for scamming and cat fishing....

 

[mrsheppo]

My DS had one for his wife who has been battling cancer. It has been used to help take care of expenses not covered by insurance. Family, friends and co-workers have been extremely generous to them. It's helped take a big burden off them as she has been receiving treatment and when he takes off work to care for her.

 

[Christine]

Yes. My daughter's friend did it. Two of their friends from college had a house fire and they lost all of their belongings as well as a pet. The friend started it just so they could get some money to replace required things quickly.

 

[spacemountainmom]

I have known several. My neighbor from when I was growing up had cancer and it was financially draining her family. Someone set up a gofundme for them.

A former co-worker was a single mom and passed from cancer when her only son was 18. A gofundme was set up to help the young man.

My current 18 year old neighbor has set up two over the summer. The first was asking for donations to buy a car. The second was so she could buy a cell phone. I have not donated to either one. Neither has anyone else.

 

[kmb584]

Yes. A friend of mine set one up in July 2014 for our friends who lost their son to SIDS. The asking amount was $5,000 but the end result was almost $40,000 in donations. The family used that money to build a splash pad in honor of their son and the remaining funds to create a SIDS foundation. Each spring, our community a hosts "Jog for Jude" and the benefit has thus far raised over $100,000 for SIDS research.

 

[Gorechick]

Friends set up one for us when my son died from leukemia. The funds raised helped with the funeral costs and outstanding medical bills.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

A classmate of mine has one now. She needs help paying her bills. She's on disability for debilitating back pain so she can't work, and her husband left her with 2 elementary aged children. She gets almost no child support because her ex. She's not asking for boatloads of money, just enough to catch up on bills, so it doesn't look like a money grab.

 

[leebee]

Friends set up one for us when my son died from leukemia. The funds raised helped with the funeral costs and outstanding medical bills.

I'm so sorry about your son, Gorechick. I cannot imagine your sorrow.

I know a few teens who set up fund request to help pay for their summer intensive training programs, asking for $5000. I think they each got a few hundred dollars. As a parent, there's no way I'd let my kid go panhandling for help in paying for her extracurricular choices.

 

[IDoDis]

I have known several, most of them legit. However, there was one where a bride-to-be that I knew set up a page last year to fund her honeymoon to some European country. She received a lot of backlash and the story ended up on the local news. She has been married now since February and they still haven't taken their honeymoon. I think they are going this month. He page raised $1100.

Another page was set up for my nephew's wife who claims she has a form of acute deadly leukemia that she doesn't have. She is a habitual liar. She dug herself into this hole of a lie and her younger sister set up the Go Fund Me page believing her sister only had 2 months to live and wanted her sister and sister's husband too have a nice vacation before the sister passed away. I think she raised around $500 total. It's been 2 years since my DN claimed she had this cancer. She has never had chemo (said she can't because she has blood clots), but has taken many trips to the Mayo clinic in Phoenix for "treatment" where her and my nephew and kids stay in her parents' time-share condo for weeks at a time. Yet no one has ever gone to the hospital with her for said treatment. She claims she is getting radiation, but then comes back to the condo and posts a photo of her nursing her DD and food photos of a huge meal they were eating. If she had this cancer she would have been dead long ago without chemo and if she were getting radiation, she would not be near her kids that day, let alone nursing. Her parents gave them a new vehicle and are funding these "treatment" trips. They also own the home that my nephew and her live in. Neither of them work.

My brother does have an incurable form of cancer (but it's not acute) and his doctor is the same doctor that DN says she has, probably because she couldn't think of another name when asked who her doctor was. My brother was talking to this doctor one day during a check-up and mentioned the niece and her treatment and the doctor shook her head and said he must be mistaken and that she as not treating DN fo cancer. When confronted, DN sticks with her story.

I will set up a Go Fund Me page for my bother if he needs it in the future. His cancer is back now after being in remission for 2 years.

 

[RedAngie]

A FB friend provided a link to GFM so that her daughter's cheerleading group could raise funds to go to Disney for a competition.

A woman at work left a notice on a bulletin board inviting co-workers to contribute to her daughter's European vacation.

I have no idea how much money was raised (if any) because I didn't bother opening either of the GFM links.

 

[ronandannette]

A family who are good friends of mine tragically lost a young child in a drowning accident at a private community lake last summer. The HOA of the neighbourhood set up a Gofundme page on their behalf to contribute to funeral expenses. This was done without the knowledge or consent of my friends and although the intentions were good, they did not personally know the family or their circumstances and/or customs and traditions. The family did not want or need the money and found the whole thing presumptious and humiliating. They declined the funds, which were eventually donated to the HOA for kids programs at the community center (or maybe some donors got their money back; I don't really know).

Another group of close friends of ours (6 families involved) experienced a horrific incident in which 2 young people perished and 4 others were gravely injured. The parents of the children who were lost used a fundrazr account (a Canadian site similar to Gofundme) as a memorial and raised $50,000 towards the medical expenses of the survivors.

I've browsed the Gofundme site a couple of times just out of curiosity. Many of the appeals strike me as absurd.

 

[chell]

Two years ago I created a GFM for our newest dog, Natalie. A coworker found her abandoned on a dirt road on the verge of a heat stroke. Her owners were found but didn't take her back. Apparently they had set her out. When I took her to the vet she tested positive for heartworms. I set up the account to help cover her treatment.

 

[loves to dive]

The girl that used to clean our office set up one for her to get her master's degree. She was already working as a social worker by this point so I didn't contribute to it.

An author friend of mine has some friends set up one after her husband got laid off and after about 8 months still couldn't find a job. They were on the verge of loosing their house because they couldn't pay the mortgage so she got on FB and begged for help. She can't work outside the home because she has a chronic illness but her husband is healthy. He works in IT and refused to work anywhere "that was beneath him". Sorry, didn't contribute to that either.

Another friend lost her job, her mother had been ill with cancer and she was her caregiver after her Mom died she herself was diagnosed with cancer. Another friend set up an account for her so I did contribute to it.

 

[tvguy]

There are probably genuine people who use it but a lot that I've come across look like scams to me so I generally stay clear.

I would prefer to donate directly as was the case when a local had terminal brain cancer and the community got behind him and his family to help with the burden, I knew exactly where my donation went.

The internet is a wonderful tool but has opened the doors for scamming and cat fishing....

That has been my experience. Go fraud me.

 

[wilkeliza]

I set one up for friend and raised enough tonhelp with initial medical bills. She was in a bad accident that totalled her car and did some medical stuff I won't go into. It is someone who does a ton for the community she lives in and gives so mu checked of herself that I felt like it was the right thing to do. She at first didn't want it because she is a very proud independent persin but when several people comtacted her asking how they could send money she told me to go ahead and set it up. The amount raised wasn't huge (under 2K) but it helped her a lot. I wouldn't have started it with out her permission. There was also information about how to donate directly and that was handled through her job which is a well respected business in the area. The goal was it not to be a money grab just a way family and friends could help since we are all spread apart and everyone be 100% sure where the money was going.

 

[Hannahinwonderland]

I have known many. One friend created one so she could finish college after a family tragedy. Another friend created one so she could buy a wheelchair; she has a medical condition that makes walking very exhausting, but her insurance would not cover a chair. I usually donate a bit if I know the person.

 

[OZMom]

An old classmate of mine set one up to pay for her "dream wedding". Some people did contribute, NOT me, but I don't know what happened because their relationship ended and they never got married.