Charlotte Clymer, who is an Army veteran and communications specialist for the Human Rights Campaign, created the fundraiser on Thursday and set a goal of $100 million. As of Friday morning, nearly 3,000 people have raised more than $63,000.
Well, @HoarseWisperer, you're in luck. I have just started a GoFundMe for ladders to get over Trump's wall, and if we, um, don't reach our "goal", all proceeds will go to @RAICESTEXAS.
— Charlotte Clymer🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) December 20, 2018
And you are, of course, credited for the idea: https://t.co/CHMKJZqj25 https://t.co/ByR6NpLK4U
Clymer's campaign was an answer to Florida Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage's fundraiser, which was started Dec. 6. Kolfage, a triple amputee and Purple Heart recipient who was severely injured during his deployment in Iraq in 2004, started his GoFundMe page and set a goal of $1 billion. By Friday morning, nearly $11 million had been pledged by more than 180,000 people to the cause, dubbed "We The People Will Fund The Wall."
Clymer said the money she raises will not go toward buying ladders, but will be donated to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, a nonprofit that provides legal services for immigrants and refugees seeking legal asylum, CNET reported.
"This GoFundMe isn't really about ladders at all," Clymer wrote on her GoFundMe page. "It's about lifting people up."
Clymer said she was angered by the campaign to fund a border wall, which was the linchpin of Donald Trump’s successful run to the presidency in 2016.
"More than being angry, I was sad at the blatant racism of donating money to a wall that will not be built, a wall that won't work," Clymer told Business Insider. "Undocumented folks are not bringing crime or drug smuggling or any of this job-stealing nonsense to our country."
Trump said this week that he would not sign a bill to keep the government operating unless funding was included for a border wall.
About the Author