The city of West Hollywood is encouraging community members to donate to organizations that are in urgent need of contributions to support clean-up, wildlife rescue and recovery efforts following the major oil spill off the coast of Orange County in Southern California on Oct. 2.

With more than 130,000 gallons of oil leaked and traveling along the coastline, the spill leaves behind a trail of thick sludge devastating wildlife and ecological reserves.

The city is activating its West Hollywood Responds program to help encourage contributions to agencies and organizations that are working on clean-up and recovery. The city has assembled a list of organizations on its website at weho.org/wehoresponds.

“As we witness the devastating effects of the climate emergency unfold in a myriad of ways across the globe, the news of this oil spill hits close-to-home for our community,” Mayor Lauren Meister said. “Many residents and businesses in the city of West Hollywood are asking what they can do to help. Trained spill-response personnel are deployed to stop the spread of the oil and to clean up parts of the environment that have been affected, so volunteers are not needed at this time. But donations are vital to helping organizations respond to the overwhelming need. I hope our community can give generously to support the work being done to help affected wildlife and to help teams as they work toward restoring the coastline and ecosystem.”

In 2005, the West Hollywood City Council first established West Hollywood Responds as a local disaster relief program developed to provide assistance to the Gulf Coast region following Hurricane Katrina. It has been reactivated multiple times during the past several years.