GoFundMe and the Filipino crowdfunding culture

By Cristina DC Pastor

When my husband suffered a stroke in the early morning of June 29, the idea of fundraising never crossed my mind. I was in a state of nonchalance, thinking that since he had insurance, everything would be taken care of by his provider.

Until the social worker in the hospital informed me his rehab would be done in another facility in West Orange, New Jersey because his insurance does not cover such service in the current hospital in Edison.

“Out of area,” she said.

But first, she stressed, I need to make sure he is up to date with his insurance payments or I could be looking at anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 a day in fees.

I panicked. I went to GoFundMe.com and set up an account.

I did not expect the response to be overwhelming. Family, friends, media colleagues and some strangers came through for Rene. I will never know why total strangers would open their wallets for my family, but someone suggested that maybe they’ve had their experience with stroke too and wanted to make sure Rene gets through it. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts, my daughter’s and mine.

Some Filipinos are skeptical over GFM although this popular crowdfunding platform has been around 14 years and has helped millions of Americans struggling to find the money for medical emergencies, schooling, travel, personal goals, charity events, monthly bills, weddings, etc.

Some of our friends would rather send to Zelle where the full value of their contributions goes to us. “I’d rather give the full amount to you than to GFM,” some of them said.

Some are cautious about sending to an online site where they believe scammers might be lurking to steal their personal information. They would dry-run the site by sending small amounts, like a dollar. If it’s a scam, it’s not that big of a loss.

I don’t know what to say to calm their anxieties except to offer other options like PayPal, Venmo or good old fashion paper check to be mailed at my address and to clear in two business days. It takes a bit of time, but I’ll take it.

There was one donor who was totally nervous about sending money to GFM. He still sent through Zelle and immediately called to confirm if I received it. It was midnight and I was about to go to bed but he called incessantly to make sure his contribution came through. He explained why he was nuts about online transactions which had to do with having been scammed a while back. I can understand. What I cannot understand is why scammers seem to be getting away with all sorts of fraud targeting salt of the earth, hardworking Americans, and the government can’t seem to do anything to stop them. Phone scams, Student loan forgiveness scams, Zelle scams, and now Artificial Intelligence-powered scams. The bad actors are always several steps ahead of us.

The crowdfunding campaign shook up Rene’s network of friends, from high school classmates, to news agency and media colleagues of long ago, to cousins he has not heard from in so many years. Everyone was shocked to hear about the stroke, especially since Rene was just on Facebook looking happy in photos of our recent trip to Venice.  They formed chat groups, prayer brigades and kept me updated on what they’re up to. Through it all, people wanted to help, and they did with so much selflessness and generosity.

Today, I read to him a heartfelt post written by one of his Reuters colleagues, Jan Paschal: “Dear FB Friends & Family – and especially those who worked at Reuters with Rene Pastor – such a brilliant journalist and such a compassionate man…I just now saw this terrible news on FB and I am gutted – praying like mad for Rene’s recovery. He is an excellent journalist who covered everything from coups to commodities with the extraordinary talent and improv skill of a jazz musician. Please overlook any glitches in this post as I am typing through tears.”

He gave a hint of a smile.

Here’s the link to Rene Pastor’s GoFundMe. https://gofund.me/6ff19758