Hi. Like most of you, I'm not a member of Emanuel AME Church, but was shocked and heartbroken by the tragic and horrible murders yesterday in Charleston.

Oftentimes, I think we feel helpless in the face of these situations. We don't know what to do.

Indeed, raising money for Emanuel AME Church will not bring back the lives of those lost. But the attacker last night wasn't just trying to destroy the lives of the congregants; he was trying to destroy an institution over a century old, to destroy a sense of safety, to destroy a place of worship that meant so much to the African-American residents of Charleston.

Although, we can't bring back the lives that were lost:

WE CAN STAND WITH EMANUEL AME CHURCH IN CHARLESTON.

We can act in memory of those killed.

We can utterly reject the hate and bigotry that cost them their lives.

And we can do it by supporting the place that meant so much to them--the place they were so cruelly murdered.

My initial goal is to raise at least $10,000 in memory of each life so horribly taken, a total of $90,000. I hope we can give much more--we have so much to give.