What happened?
Weerasinghe said she worked with GoFundMe to find a charity, which a spokesperson confirmed, but finding one was difficult and time-consuming. Some of them didn t get in contact with us because obviously it was a very busy time, she said.
In June 2019, she donated $20,000 to Alpha Trust, a social arm of the Church of the Foursquare Gospel in Sri Lanka, but according to a statement on Facebook from the church, after extensive interviews and fact-finding, members of the Alpha Trust team concluded that all victims who needed help were being taken care of by other groups.
In December 2019, Alpha Trust returned the money, minus tax and travel expenses.