These Palisades natives raised over $120,000 for fire relief on GoFundMe. Now what?

The night the Palisades fire broke out, all of Gabe Wachtel and Colin Enzer’s group chats were blowing up. “We’re learning as we go,” said Wachtel, who works for a property management company, as he and Enzer sat in the backyard of Wachtel’s home in Century City on Tuesday. “I saw the WhatsApp and people already wondering how to help so pulled the trigger on creating the fund.” A statement posted on the group’s GoFundMe page states that it is “an effort to aid the restoration of Pacific Palisades.” The organizers “will be working with community leaders to allocate funds in the most effective ways,” it says, with 30% of the funds to be dedicated to cleanup efforts, 25% to restoration, 20% to displaced family relief, 20% to business subsidies and 5% to the Los Angeles Fire Department. “There’s a lot of skepticism with how people view information online and I think that increasingly leaks into the GoFundMe environment,” she said. Enzer said the group’s organizers have had conversations with the platform about being verified, but the company “wanted us to mention specific businesses and families, which we want to avoid doing because it can complicate their FEMA or insurance claims.” He added that they plan to get verified once they’ve established a bank account associated with the organization’s LLC, a process that is currently underway.