A screen shot of Wishuponahero.com shows the appeal by Zoe Everett, a Rutgers student who lost her parents to Hurricane Sandy and now must raise her three younger siblings.
By Jim Gold, NBC News
A 19-year-old Rutgers University student who lost her parents in Hurricane Sandy and now must take care of her three younger siblings is getting more than $56,000 raised in less than a day through online donors.
Zoe Everett of Randolph, N.J., told her story on Wishuponahero.com, whose founder Dave Girgenti launched the peer-to-peer aid site from his New Jersey home five years ago.
"This wish was spectacular," Girgenti told NBC News on Thursday. The goal for Zoe Everettt was only $5,000. "The entire country came together to help this girl with her tragedy. Her wish is granted."
"Wish Upon a Hero has raised funds for my family that have exceeded our wildest dreams," Zoe Everett wrote Thursday in response to the fund-raising. "The donations have ensured our well-being for the next few months and will hold us over until we are able to access our own funds."
The website has set up a special page to help other Sandy victims, hurricanewishes.com.
"My family has been so blessed, and we would like to be able to do the same for others who have suffered the misfortune of Hurricane Sandy," Zoe Everett wrote.
Zoe?s parents, Richard Everett, 54, and his wife, Elizabeth, 46, were killed while driving through Mendham Township during the storm when a tree fell on their truck, the Newark Star-Ledger reported. Their two sons, Theo, 14, and Pierce, 11, were riding in the back but not seriously harmed, the newspaper said. Their two daughters, Zoe, 19, and Talia, 17, were not with them.
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"Before Hurricane Sandy I was a typical 19-year-old student at Rutgers," Zoe Everett posted on Wishuponahero.com. She told about the 100-mph wind that knocked down the tree onto the pickup?s cab and the call she received while she was studying for an exam.
"At 11 p.m. on Oct. 29, I found out both of my parents had been killed," Zoe Everett wrote.
"I was no longer your typical 19-year-old," she wrote. "A moment in time, a second of bad luck, changed my life and my siblings' lives forever."
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"I now have two goals: caring for and being guardian of my three younger siblings and keeping my family in the house we grew up in."
The family?s finances are frozen while lawyers sort out the estate, Girgenti said. "The donations will tide them over."
Zoe Everett wrote about putting college on hold:
"My family, my siblings, come first. I love them more than they could ever fathom and I am ready and willing to put any amount of weight on my shoulders to lessen the load on theirs. They are children who deserve to be kids and enjoy the life they have lying before them. I am going to be strong for them. I am going to be wise. I am going to be patient. But I won't be naive, and I won't say that I don't need help."
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