It began with a simple goal: Reach out via Facebook to raise $1,500 to help reunite undocumented families that have been separated at the US-Mexico border.
Within days the effort spearheaded by Charlotte and Dave Willner, both of the Class of 2006, has gone viral, spinning into a $4,000-per-minute storm of goodwill that reportedly has raised more than $20 million, as of June 29, 2018.
“These aren’t kids we don’t have to care about. They’re like our kids,” Charlotte Willner told the San Jose Mercury News. “When we look at the faces of these children, we can’t help but see our own children’s faces.”
The Willners began their careers at Facebook in 2007. Charlotte is now safety manager at Pinterest and Dave moved on to Airbnb, where he is head of community policy. Read about their visit to campus in March 2017.
