Australian Native Teams Up With 25 Boston Chefs For Wildfire Relief Fundraiser
BOSTON (CBS) -- The heartbreaking images of fires in Australia have inspired people from around the world to help. In Boston, 25 chefs have teamed up to cater a now sold-out silent auction to raise money for wildfire relief.
Though Tuesday's event is sold out, organizer Sam Jackson told WBZ-TV he hopes people will still donate to the cause.
Jackson, chef and owner of KO Catering and Pies in East Boston, is a native of Australia.
"Rather than sit there feeling sad and terrible, I had to come up with something. Having KO here and the platform that I do with the business and the community here and also my network of chef mates here in Boston, I knew that the best way for me to make an impact is to round them up, ask for their help and essentially create this barbie that we're having on Tuesday," he explained.
Since the fundraiser sold out, Jackson created a page for donations. As of Friday, he said $4,000 had been donated.
"It started to become really apparent that things [in Australia] were getting bad," Jackson said. "Things were getting close to where I grew up, places that I was very familiar with were burned to the ground, people were losing things, the visuals of the animals, there were so many things that really hit home for me. "
Donations through Jackson's event will go to "a number of amazing services that have made it their priority to take care of injured wildlife" including RSPCA, WWF, and WIRES.