As of April 29th, I have decided to cancel the Sri Lanka GoFundMe campaign. Any pending donations will automatically be refunded to the respective donors. Due to the significant value we were aiming for, I was working closely with Dave from the Trust & Safety Team at GoFundMe. We mutually agreed it was important to have a reliable church contact to transfer the funds who would then work with me to personally and fairly distribute to the families impacted. That being said, I didn’t feel comfortable ending the campaign without having sufficient funds to fulfill my promises in their entirety or blindly sending your money without proof of where it was going. After deeper reflection, it also felt inappropriate to create a project from a source of tragedy. On a personal level, I believe this would have been a profound learning experience... but after declining a news interview, I did not want the narrative to be about my efforts - these are real people going through unimaginable loss and I should have launched it anonymously from the start to keep the focus that way. Still, I believe wholeheartedly this is a cause that needs support from as many people as possible and I encourage you to continue raising awareness and doing your part to help these families piece their lives back together. There is now an abundance of other campaigns on GoFundMe that are working with reputable sources around the world (including law enforcement) to ensure your money goes directly to the intended parties. I’m sorry if I let anyone down by not seeing this to completion, but this is a sensitive situation that needs to be healed through and navigated mindfully.