On Saturday, Pink announced that she would be donating $500,000 to fire services in Australia, and also shareda listof local fire stations and their donation pages with her fans.
“I am totally devastated watching what is happening in Australia right now with the horrific bushfires,” the musician, 40, captioned the post. “I am pledging a donation of $500,000 directly to the local fire services that are battling so hard on the frontlines. My heart goes out to our friends and family in Oz ❤️.”
Meanwhile, Barber — an Australian actor and comedian — recently put out a call on social media for her followers to donate to relief efforts. On Thursday, Barber, 37, posteda Facebook fundraisertitled “Please help anyway you can. This is terrifying.”
As of Saturday morning, the fundraiser had raised over $9.8 million.
Pink; Celeste Barber.Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images; Don Arnold/WireImage
The brushfire crisis in Australia has claimed the lives ofat least 17 peopleand burned through more than 11 million acres since it sparked in September.
As the more than 130 fires continue to burn, ecologists from the University of Sydney believealmost half a billion total mammals, birds and reptileshave also died in the fires since September.
On Wednesday — one day after what was reportedly deemed the deadliest day of the fire crisis since its start — Australia deployed military ships and aircraft to help victims and communities in need.
As of Thursday, there were 2,000 firefighters working in New South Wales alone, with additional help arriving from the United States, Canada and New Zealand.
Fires in Sydney, Australia.David Gray/Getty
Among those pledging to help are professional athletes includingLaMelo Ball and Nick Kyrgios.
“It’s sad to see what is happening on the South Coast of Australia,” Ball, 18, said in the press release. “People have lost their homes and everything they own. My parents taught me to help out wherever I can, so this is my way of helping out.”
Kelly Defina/Getty; Brendon Thorne/Getty
Meanwhile, Kyrgios, an Australian tennis player,pledged$200 Australian dollars for every ace he hits at upcoming matches.
According toCNN, Kyrgios, 24, hit 20 aces at a match on Friday, adding up to a donation of $4,000 Australian dollars.
“I don’t really care about the praise too much, I just think we’ve got the ability and the platform to do something like that,” Kyrgios said after the match, CNN reported.
“It’s tough to go out there and concentrate on tennis, to be honest,” he added. “Every ace I was hitting that’s all I was thinking about. Every time I stepped up to the line that’s all I was thinking about.”
source: people.com
