UPDATE 8/10/21, 6:04 p.m. ET: After publishing the story, CNN spoke with Dasha Kelly, who clarified that she is not the mother of the three children. Kelly said that although she isn’t their mother, she feels like she is one because she occasionally takes care of them at her home.
The mother and father of the three children, Shadia Hilo and David Allison, also care for the kids. Allison is dating Kelly.
GoFundMe has since frozen Kelly’s account and is in contact with her about the situation. No money has been withdrawn from the account.
However, the Washington Post now reports that per a GoFundMe spokesman, people will have two weeks to withdraw their donations. Whatever’s left will be given to Kelly.
See original story below.
A Las Vegas mother of three, Dasha Kelly, facing eviction over her back rent, has had that stress alleviated after more than $200,000 was donated to her by strangers in just over 24 hours.
Kelly’s story was featured on Monday on CNN, after the federal eviction moratorium that kept renters in their homes during the pandemic expired over the weekend. That expiration meant landlords could start evicting tenants with rent(s) that are past due.
Kelly, who has three daughters, Sharron, 8; Kia, 6; and Imani, 5, had lost her job as a card dealer when Vegas’ casinos were shut-down amid the coronavirus outbreak in 2020. CNN notes that the 32-year-old mother has had temporary jobs, but that she’s had to pawn just about all her furniture outside of a small sofa and TV. It was also mentioned that she’s currently relying on food stamps and unemployment and has gotten scattered $100 payments for selling plasma.
With few options available she posted a GoFundMe drive, titled “Help My Girls & I avoid eviction,” on Monday night aiming for $2,000. She ended up getting more than 100 times that from 3,350+ donors (including a single $15,000 pledge from a person named Meredith Kellner).
“I just want to tell everybody thank you so much,” Kelly said after being told of the strangers’ contributions. “I’m still in denial.”
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, more than 11 million Americans are behind on rent.
“It gave me a lot of hope,” Kelly added. “And I just want to make sure I do the best that I can to help the next person that is in my same situation.”
