Athletes from the North Bay helping with wildfire relief

Jared Goff photo courtesy of Jeffrey Beall and Jonny Gomes photo courtesy of Flickr.

The celebrity platform is powerful and it has the potential to sincerely help during times of tragedy – see J.J. Watt’s nearly $40 million in disaster relief funds following Hurricane Harvey. And now two athletes from the North Bay are exercising their reach in response to the wildfires that ravaged their hometown neighbors. 

Quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams Jared Goff and former Oakland A Jonny Gomes have each started a GoFundMe. Goff, from Novato, has a $50,000 goal and Gomes, from Petaluma, has a $1 million goal.

“I’ve never had anything hit so close to home,” Gomes said, per the San Francisco Chronicle. “We donate to cancer research, to support the troops, all sorts of causes, but when 1,000 people in your life are affected by one thing, it really hits you.”

The North Bay Fires have killed 42 people and destroyed nearly 7,000 buildings. It’s the deadliest wildfire in California’s history. In addition to Gomes preparing a monetary donation, he’s shipping his 2 1/2 –ton M35 military truck to Petaluma. He’ll be using it to help remove debris from the roadways.

Goff is more than halfway to his goal in just two days. And who knows if it will stop there. Recalling Watt’s original goal of $200,000 reminds us that the ceiling could grow exponentially.

Goff’s words:

Being from the Bay Area and more specifically the North Bay Area the recent fires in the Sonoma, Napa, and Santa Rosa area have hit literally close to home for me. Like many others from the area, I know many families that have been seriously affected by this tragedy by losing loved ones or entire homes. I wanted to start this fund to try and help some of those families and people in need at this time. I’ve been working with members of the local community there to make sure the money donated goes to the correct places. Along with my personal donation, I’ve set up this site to help raise money for the families affected by this tragedy. All of the funds donated will go directly to the fire survivors through the Sonoma County Fire Account. 

If you want to donate through Goff, visit his GoFundMe page.

If you want to donate through Gomes, visit his GoFundMe page