--- title: 'Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting: How to Help the Tree of Life Victims' description: A gunman killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Here's how you can help victims and their families. authors: - name: Jennifer Calfas url: https://money.com/author/jennifer-calfas/ at_money_since: 2017 articles: 339 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Personal Finance - Pets - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/jencalfas former_staff: true published: '2018-10-29T17:08:13.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T11:05:41.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - Charity - onetime word_count: 617 canonical: https://money.com/pittsburgh-tree-of-life-synagogue-shooting-how-to-help/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![A person pauses in front of Stars of David with the names of those killed in a deadly shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue, in Pittsburgh, October 29, 2018.](https://img.money.com/2018/10/181029-tree-of-life-victims-how-to-help.jpg) *A person pauses in front of Stars of David with the names of those killed in a deadly shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue, in Pittsburgh, October 29, 2018.* Eleven people were shot and killed inside their synagogue in Pittsburgh over the weekend by a man who reportedly told police he "[wanted all Jews to die](https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/28/us/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting/index.html)." The anti-Semitic attack left the Squirrel Hill community in Pittsburgh [reeling](https://time.com/5437299/pittsburgh-tree-of-life-shooting-vigil/), and Americans across the country scrambling to find ways to help. Among these efforts, Muslim-American organizations worked to raise more than $100,000 for the victims and their families in just two days, and the Pittsburgh Penguins — the city's NHL team — has organized a donation page and a blood drive in wake of the shooting. There are numerous ways to help the victims, their families, the Tree of Life Synagogue, the city of Pittsburgh, and Jewish communities around the country. Here's what you can do. ## Donate to the victims' families and Tree of Life synagogue A verified GoFundMe page has raised more than $570,000 from more than 10,000 donors since it began Saturday. The funds will go directly to Tree of Life, the synagogue where the shooting occurred. You can donate to this campaign [here](https://www.gofundme.com/tree-of-life-synagogue-shooting). You can also donate to Tree of Life directly online through PayPal [here](https://www.tolols.org/give) or [send](https://www.tolols.org/contact) the synagogue a check. Two Muslim-American organizations have collected tens of thousands of dollars for the victims and their families. The effort has raised more than $121,000 as of Monday morning, and the group plans to work with the Tree of Life synagogue to address "the immediate, short-term needs of the injured victims and grieving families." You can donate to the fund [here](https://www.launchgood.com/project/muslims_unite_for_pittsburgh_synagogue#!/). The Pittsburgh Penguins, on top of donating $25,000 Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh and another $25,000 to the city's Department of Public Safety to help injured police officers, has organized a donation night at Tuesday's game at the PPG Paints Arena to help the victims, impacted families, and first responders to the shooting. Donors can also give online [here](https://e.givesmart.com/events/bAV/). GoFundMe has also verified a campaign made for Pittsburgh Police SWAT Officer Tim Matson, who was injured while responding to the shooting. You can donate to Matson's fund [here](https://www.gofundme.com/6bm5dkg). ## Give blood Blood donation centers in Pittsburgh lengthened their hours over the weekend to accommodate for an influx of blood donations to help those injured during the shooting. Vitalant, a Pittsburgh-area, non-profit blood donation center, is asking people to keep donating blood. The organization has partnered with the Pittsburgh Penguins to hold a blood donation drive Monday at the PPG Paints Arena, and potential donors can look into other ways they can give blood [here](https://donateblood.centralbloodbank.org/). ## Support Jewish organizations The [man who allegedly opened fire](https://time.com/5436894/robert-bowers-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting/) at the Tree of Life synagogue reportedly posted a message on the social media platform Gab before the shooting – and mentioned a nonprofit organization dedicated to humanitarian aid for refugees. That organization, called the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (or HIAS), was first established in 1881 to help protect Jewish refugees and now protects and provides assistance to refugees around the world. "As we try to process this horrifying tragedy, we pray that the American Jewish community and the country can find healing," the organization [said in a statement](https://www.hias.org/hias-statement-pittsburgh-tragedy) following the shooting. You can donate to HIAS online [here](https://act.hias.org/page/6048/donate/1). There are also a number of Pittsburgh-based Jewish organizations you can donate money to. Those include the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, which offers a number of ways to donate [here](https://jewishpgh.org/ways-to-give/), as well as the city's Jewish Family and Community Services, a social services program you can donate to online [here](https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/jfcspgh). There's also the local Jewish Community Center, which offers recreational and educational activities for the Jewish community, and the city's chapter of Bend the Arc, a progressive Jewish organization. You can donate to those groups online [here](https://donate.jccpgh.org/give/184002/#!/donation/checkout) and [here](https://www.bendthearc.us/donate?recruiter_ID=151433), respectively. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/pittsburgh-tree-of-life-synagogue-shooting-how-to-help/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mental Health", "item": "https://money.com/mental-health/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting: How to Help the Tree of Life Victims" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/pittsburgh-tree-of-life-synagogue-shooting-how-to-help/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/pittsburgh-tree-of-life-synagogue-shooting-how-to-help/", "name": "Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting: How to Help the Tree of Life Victims", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2018-10-29T17:08:13.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/pittsburgh-tree-of-life-synagogue-shooting-how-to-help/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/pittsburgh-tree-of-life-synagogue-shooting-how-to-help/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T11:05:41.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting: How to Help the Tree of Life Victims", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2018/10/181029-tree-of-life-victims-how-to-help.jpg", "width": 4317, "height": 3018, "caption": "181029-tree-of-life-victims-how-to-help" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jennifer Calfas", "url": "https://money.com/author/jennifer-calfas/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/jennifer-calfas/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/jencalfas" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2018-10-29T17:08:13.000Z", "description": "A gunman killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. 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