Wall donations refunded or shifted to new nonprofit effort

Devon Ravine/Northwest Florida Daily News archives
U.S. Air Force Sr. Airman (retired) Brian Kolfage, seen in 2016, is offering refunds to donors who gave money to his GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the federal government to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Kolfage has launched a new nonprofit, We Build The Wall Inc., to construct the wall and says donors to his original effort can either get a refund or shift their gifts to the new effort to build the wall.
Matt York/Associated Press archives
In this May 31, 2006, photo, a man climbs over the international border into Nogales, Ariz., from Nogales, Mexico. Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage, who started a GoFundMe page to help fund construction of President Donald Trump's border wall, is abandoning that effort in favor of a nonprofit that will raise money and construct the wall.

PUBLISHED: January 12, 2019 at 11:46 a.m. | UPDATED: January 14, 2019 at 4:19 a.m.

By Curt Anderson | Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida man says people who contributed more than $20 million online to help build a wall along the southern U.S. border can get refunds or shift their support to a new nonprofit effort.

Air Force veteran and triple amputee Brian Kolfage, 37, says on the GoFundMe page he started in December to raise money for President Donald Trump’s wall that the nonprofit endeavor will be more successful. The message tells donors they can get a refund if they do nothing or they can redirect their donation to the nonprofit.

“There is a lot of work ahead of us, but this has never deterred me in the past. With the help of our highly experienced team, and your support, we will make this work!” Kolfage wrote. “I will personally not take a penny of compensation from these donations.”

So far, about 339,000 people have contributed. The new nonprofit is called We Build The Wall Inc. and Kolfage says he hopes to raise $1 billion.

Under his plan, segments of the wall would be privately constructed through negotiations with landowners along the border. Kolfage says his group is identifying areas that are frequently crossed; looking into wall solutions based on terrain, environment and other issues; and asking landowners if they would provide free or low-cost easements for its construction.

“We are better equipped than our own government to use the donated funds to build an actual wall on the southern border,” he wrote. “Our team strongly believes that we can complete our segments of the wall for less than half of the government’s estimated costs on a per mile basis.”

It’s not clear how this private effort would interact with any federal plans sought by Trump to build a wall with government funds in many of the same areas. Democrats in Congress have refused to support the $5.6 billion Trump seeks for the project, leading to the ongoing partial government shutdown — now the longest in U.S. history.

According to his website , Kolfage was severely wounded in a 2004 rocket attack at an Iraq air base, losing both legs and one arm. He and his family live in the resort community of Sandestin, in Florida’s Panhandle. Kolfage did not respond Saturday to an email seeking further comment.

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