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The Monday fire at Notre Dame Cathedral sparked immediate promises of millions of euros to help rebuild it. On Tuesday, this prompted donations to do the same for much smaller places of worship, thousands of miles away and recently destroyed by arson.
A crowdfunding campaign for three black fire-ravaged churches in Louisiana received nearly $ 500,000 after being widely shared on social media on Tuesday. Many users have noted that while hundreds of millions of euros had already been committed to rebuilding the famous cathedral, small churches in Louisiana were still struggling.
"These communities need to know that people care about them and how they live," wrote Jessica Piombo, a Monterey, Calif.-based teacher on the campaign's page.
"Every little bit counts."
The campaign was published on GoFundMe last Wednesday by the Seventh District Baptist Association, which includes 54 Baptist churches in southwestern Louisiana, three of which were burned. The association noted that donations would be used to rebuild and replace what had been destroyed, from benches to sound systems and musical instruments.
A screen capture from the Tuesday morning campaign page shows that $ 92,939 has been raised. This number has increased as the day goes by, including many smaller donations. Nearly 11,000 people donated at 7 pm, and a spokesperson for GoFundMe said the campaign had received donations from all 50 states.
Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State and First Lady; the journalist Yashar Ali; and Jake Tapper, the anchor of CNN.
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The accused man to install them, Holden Matthews, 21, is the son of a deputy sheriff and has been charged with arson and hate crimes.
"Let me say it like this: the only building that had furniture left was Mount Pleasant," said Freddie Jack, president of the association and pastor of St. John Baptist Church in Ville Platte. , in the La.
"St. Mary and the Great Union, all you see is charcoal. It is a total and total loss on the three sites. "
While churches had insurance, coverage is limited. The Grand Union Baptist Church also repaid a mortgage contracted for a recent renovation. To further complicate matters, new churches will have to follow stricter building codes imposed after Hurricane Katrina, Jack said.
At first he had set a fundraising goal of $ 600,000, but after reflection he had decided to triple that figure to $ 1.8 million, based on his own experience of building his church there more than ten years ago.
The money raised will be divided among the three destroyed churches, each with more than 100 regular members, according to Jack, who met the pastors of these churches on Monday night.
"They have a long way in front of them," he said. "They are far from a complete recovery, but the generosity of the population seems to say a lot."
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