Tech firms offer aid for the displaced
Bay Area technology firms, many of whose workers and leaders can smell smoke in their offices from distant wildfires, are donating money and services to the relief efforts for the many left without shelter by the blazes raging across Northern California.
It’s the latest round of corporate giving in the wake of natural disasters. Many tech companies also pledged aid in the wake of devastating hurricanes that hit the Gulf and East coasts and Puerto Rico.
Here is an overview of those efforts:
Apple said it plans a $1 million donation to fire-relief efforts and is also matching employee donations two-for-one. “Our thoughts are with our Bay Area friends & neighbors affected by wildfires,” CEO Tim Cook tweeted Tuesday.
Facebook promised $1 million to local relief groups; the donation will go to the Napa Valley Community Foundation and the Community Foundation Sonoma County (both of which have established fire relief funds) and the Red Cross California Wildfires Fund. In a post Tuesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company had activated its “Safety Check” feature — which lets people mark themselves safe — for 14 separate fires in a single day.
Google employees and Google.org, the philanthropic arm of the company, are donating a total of $500,000 to organizations including the Napa Valley Community Foundation and the Community Foundation Sonoma County (both of which have established fire relief funds), as well as the American Red Cross. The Red Cross donations will also aid those impacted by wildfires in Southern California, the company noted. Google said its crisis response team created an alert about the Tubbs fire on the company’s search feature, as well as a special map showing road closures, shelters, approximate fire locations (with information provided by state fire officials) and other alerts.
Uber, headquartered in smoke-laden San Francisco, where officials have issued health warnings about the air, is offering free or discounted rides to four public libraries in the city that have filtered air. The rides, which have some restrictions, are valid through Thursday at 6 p.m.; enter SFAIRCENTER in the payment section, with the destination or pickup point being one of the libraries. The company also plans to donate an unspecified amount to the Napa Valley Community Foundation.
Lyft said it is “currently working with local authorities to develop a plan to offer relief rides once the roads have reopened and it is safe to have drivers on the roads.”
Airbnb activated its disaster program to provide free shortterm stays for evacuees through the end of the month. The company said it is “trying to reach as many people who are in need of accommodation as possible, as well as those in Marin County, north Alameda County, Mendocino County and San Francisco willing to share and assist those in need by opening their homes.” On Tuesday, it added hosts in Oakland and Berkeley to the program and said more than 200 hosts had signed up to help. Twitter said it has a site for employee giving, which has been used for other recent natural disasters. SFGate staff writer Alyssa Pereira contributed to this report.