After Notre-Dame fire, burned US churches get fundraising boost

CHICAGO: A fundraising campaign for three historically black churches destroyed by arson in the southern US is getting a boost after the fire at the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris.

Nearly $1 billion has been raised after a worldwide outpouring of support for the rebuilding of the 850-year-old Paris cathedral, which was badly damaged in a fire Monday.

That spurred some in the US to also highlight the three churches that were burned in Louisiana, which were estimated to need less than $2 million to rebuild.

"As we hold Paris in our thoughts today, let's also send some love to our neighbors in Louisiana," former secretary of state and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted on Tuesday.

CNN journalist Jake Tapper also tweeted a link to the GoFundMe campaign to his two million followers. Other celebrities did the same.

The campaign had raised about $100,000 in its first week. But the social media blitz shot that total up to nearly $1.4 million in less than 48 hours.

"To get calls from New York, and across the country and to show love for our sister churches means a whole lot to us," Pastor Mason Jack of the Seventh District Baptist Association in Louisiana told local television station KADN.

Police have arrested the 21-year-old son of a police officer for the church fires.

He faces three counts of arson on a religious building. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.