SAN MATEO — As communities along the Peninsula continue to deal with the damage of recent storms while bracing for more rain to come, San Mateo mayor Amourence Lee has raised $45,000 in just two days for struggling local residents and businesses facing high bills for flood and storm damage — a trend in charitable donations across California.

Since mid-December, much of the state has been buffeted with intense rain and winds that have wreaked havoc on everyone in low-lying cities, mountain communities and urban areas.

From downed trees to flooded homes and power outages, the storms have left destruction in their wake—including in San Mateo, where residents have incurred thousands of dollars in damages to their homes and businesses.

As a way to help those struggling after the storms, Lee set up a GoFundMe campaign that has attracted many small donors and a few large ones, including Windy Hill Properties, a developer with deep ties to the city.

“As the Mayor of the City of San Mateo, the largest city in San Mateo County, I believe in the generosity and resiliency of our community,” Lee said in the fundraiser description. “We cannot wait for FEMA or the state, we need to step up when we see our neighbors and our local businesses in need. That is the San Mateo way. San Mateans want to help folks get back on their feet.”

The effort to fundraise for needy California families suffering from storm-related woes has quickly grown to the point that GoFundMe has set up a centralized hub to raise funds for flood and storm relief “to make it easier for people who want to support those affected,” the company said in a press release.

Along with San Mateo’s fund, GoFundMe is highlighting other campaigns, including a fund to help beloved Mission District restaurant Rintaro after it was devastated by an estimated $150,000 in flood damage on New Year’s Eve, and one for a family in Pollock Pines that suffered extensive damage to their home after a gust of wind from the atmospheric river brought down a neighbor’s tree that was large enough to crack the house open.

San Mateo’s flood relief fund will go straight to the city, Lee said in an interview, though which partner agency the money will go to has “yet to be determined.” She said that at the upcoming city council meeting on Jan. 17, she will ask for an emergency study session to discuss an allocation from the city to issue grants to flood victims.

“I want to make sure that these funds get into the hands of our community members in need most fairly and efficiently,” Lee said. “All of those conversations will be determined, but at this point we’re just in ‘go’ mode.”

So far, the fund has raised about $25,000 in small donations, but Lee has been busy trying to get bigger donors to help — and it’s worked. Bohannon Northwood Joint Venture, owner of the Hillsdale Shopping Center, donated $10,000, as did CalWater and Windy Hill Property Ventures, a Palo Alto-based developer. Other donors like Lane Partners and Prometheus have donated $5,000 each.

Windy Hill Property Ventures Managing Partner Mike Field said it was a no-brainer for him to help when Lee got him on the phone.

“We hope that the community knows that when bad things happen, we’re there for them,” Field said. “We’re here to do good work, but we also want to be there just the same when bad things happen. San Mateo has always been super proactive on helping support retailers through COVID. This is just another part of that.”

Lee is no stranger to coaxing big donations for political causes on the Peninsula; she based this fundraising campaign on a Peninsula-wide effort during COVID-19 to help childcare providers suffering during the pandemic.

Lee said that back in 2020, she saw that the “childcare industry was collapsing” and “rang the bell” to find private donors willing to help prop up a dying industry that’s crucial to keeping women of color and immigrant women employed and independent.

“We raised over $500,000 in private donations that was ultimately combined with city, county and state contributions, so a total of about $5.5 million,” Lee said. “We gave over 300 grants to childcare providers, including 77 in San Mateo. One of the things that made that so successful was partnering with exceptional nonprofits.”

Lee hopes that the rest of the city council is willing to oversee a grant program with private donations and city funds to help San Mateans in need. But Lee could find some pushback from some on the council. She was the subject of a political power grab just last month that left the city without a mayor for a week.

That power struggle has revealed deep divisions within the city on issues like housing, homelessness, development and other issues, but Lee is hopeful that her council colleagues will put politics aside to do good by their residents. She said climate action by the city is more important than ever, including investing in the kind of infrastructure that will make San Mateo climate-resilient for decades to come.

“I am very hopeful that when we have, let’s say, $45,000 or $50,000 in hand from the community, that we’ll be in a position of strength to ask ‘what does support from the city look like?’ My hope is that at this study session, we can evaluate the best allocations and mechanism to distribute this money.”