OKC Family Upset After GoFundMe Page Taken Down

An Oklahoma City family devastated by the loss of a child is upset that a GoFundMe page they created for her funeral costs was temporarily taken down. They say it cost them crucial donations, but those at GoFundMe say they were looking out for the family.

GoFundMe confirmed the page was down for nearly two hours Friday.

"We were devastated," said Blake Mays, Zara Noah's uncle who created the page on Thursday to help raise money to cover funeral costs. "We were averaging about $200-300 dollars an hour so two hours gone is about $600 dollars just lost."

Eight-year-old Zara Noah was hit by a car and killed on Wednesday October 19, while she and two other children were trying to cross a busy stretch of NW 10th Street near Taber Ave. to get to Meadowbrook Park. 

Mays is still trying to wrap his head around all that has happened.

The loss of a child is hard enough for this grieving family to take. But when they got calls that the GoFundMe page they had created had been taken down Friday morning, they got concerned. And then they got an alert stating their funds were on hold.

"You know we need as much as possible - so for the site to be taken down, for us to be told we might not be able to withdraw the funds, it's devastating," said Mays.

"I thought it was a sick joke," said Melody Davis, Zara's aunt. "Because we're hurting and everybody knows we're trying to take care of everything we need to."

News 9 reached out to GoFundMe which sent the following statement:

"Our platform is backed by the GoFundMe Guarantee, which mean funds raised by GoFundMe campaigns are guaranteed to go to the right person. We want to ensure GoFundMe donors’ intentions are honored and the recipient gets the funds raised on their behalf. In this case, the campaign was created on behalf of Kim Davis. When a campaign is created on behalf of another individual, we work with the campaign organizer to link the beneficiary to the campaign to ensure the funds are transferred directly to that individual. The campaign was suspended briefly while our team reviewed the campaign. The campaign is currently active and our team is currently working with the family to ensure that the funds are withdrawn by the correct beneficiary."

"At first I was upset. I really was," said Mays. "And then once I've calmed down, I've realized they are doing everything in their power to make sure nobody is benefiting off the death of my niece."

Zara's family wants everyone to know this is definitely not a scam.

"Every penny earned is going towards the mother to help pay for the funeral," said Mays.

They just hope the two hours the campaign was not online will not prevent them from reaching their $10,000 goal.

Zara's funeral has been set for Monday but the family said it will be a private gathering.