The goal is to collectively raise a total of $11 million to help the wave of refugees who need help and supplies. Rather than having an executive make the announcement, Rita Masoud, a Google employee who fled Kabul with her family when she was seven years old, wrote about her personal experience. Google ended June with $US70 billion in cash.
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The donations made to Google will go to four nonprofit organisations that are offering aid to refugees and migrants.
“My family and I fled to Europe with our belongings in a single suitcase, hoping for a safer and better future”, Masoud wrote. They sought and ultimately received asylum in the Netherlands.
With millions of Syrians displaced by their nation’s civil war and countless others fleeing other unstable or poverty-stricken countries in the Middle East, Africa, and beyond, the situation for many people is desperate.
More than 300,000 refugees and migrants have traveled across the Mediterranean Sea this year, resulting in at least 2,500 people dying or going missing.
It’s hard not to be in the loop regarding the ongoing migrant and refugee crisis in Europe, but Google is preparing to do what it can to aid those now on the field. Uber launched UberGIVING on September 9, partnering with Save the Children United Kingdom to collect donations for refugee children free of charge.
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The $5.5 million dollars come in addition to the $1 million donated by Google last week to front line refugee support groups.
