Australia is in crisis as wildfires continue to devastate the country, claiming the lives of at least 25 people and what is believed to be hundreds of millions of animals.
The area that has been blazed spans 5.9 million hectares, about twice the size of Belgium. Though bushfires are an expected occurrence in Australia’s summer, in 2019 it came earlier than expected. It seems the end is not expected in the near future, with the burning seen to continue for months.
While the world scrambles to provide aid to affected families and to firefighters combating the blazes, one model from California, USA, has found a way to motivate people to donate.
Kaylen Ward, 20, who called herself “The Naked Philanthropist,” took to Twitter last Friday, Jan. 3, to post her offer of sending nude photos to anyone who would donate at least $10 (P500) to any of the charities she listed. She also teased a censored photo of what donors could expect.
Image: Twitter/@lilearthangelk
Within the same day, she announced that $7,000 had been raised. Ward announced on Sunday, Jan. 5, that donations had hit $500,000.
While the donations kept pouring in, she received some backlash. “My IG got deactivated, my family disowned me, and the guy I like won’t talk to me all because of that tweet. But f*ck it, save the koalas,” she said on Saturday, Jan. 4.
Even if she made the offer of nude photos for donations on Twitter, Instagram deactivated her account and disabled new ones she made, Rolling Stone reported yesterday, Jan. 6.
She has continued to rally on with her fundraising efforts, even hiring a team of four to go through her direct messages, verify the donations and send a nude photo, as per Buzzfeed News on Jan. 5.
Ward herself has experienced the damaging impact of a wildfire. She told Buzzfeed News that she and her family fled the Carr Fire in California in 2018 and temporarily lived in a houseboat. Niña V. Guno /ra
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