Hello friends and family, my name is Grace. I am raising funds for my friend, Tonya Kelly.

Tonya was traveling to Egypt and had a layover in Doha, Qatar when the U.S. government bombed Iran. She spent 10 terrifying days sheltering in a hotel under constant red alerts and the sound of explosions. Despite repeated attempts to get help from the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Doha, she was told they could not guarantee her safety and that she was on her own.

With no official support and her safety rapidly deteriorating, Tonya had to hire a private extraction team to transport her across the border into Saudi Arabia to reach a flight home. Even there, she experienced further attacks and evacuated an airport, ultimately sleeping in a hotel lobby before securing passage home. Tonya finally arrived safely a few days ago, but the emergency extraction and last-minute flights cost her approximately $20,000 — an expense she was forced to cover out of pocket.

We are raising $20,000 to reimburse Tonya for the extraction team and emergency travel costs. Any additional funds raised will be used to help other Americans who find themselves stranded and told to “figure it out” by official channels during crises in the Middle East and to the pets that have been abandoned or affected by the crises.

We are also working to get Tonya’s story out — if you have connections to independent journalists or media, please share them and we will provide contact information for Tonya. The American people deserve to know the truth about what the American government is doing and that people are not being evacuated.

Please donate if you can, and share this campaign widely. Every contribution and share helps bring relief to someone who had no choice but to pay to secure their own safety.

Thank you for your support and for standing with Americans in crisis.