Donations pour in for Barbara Garcia, woman who found dog in tornado rubble

After a horrific tornado tore through Moore, Oklahoma, Barbara Garcia's story represented hope for the devastated area.

Garcia found her lost dog, alive and well, in the rubble that was once her home. The touching moment was captured by CBS News cameras.

Viewers were moved by Garcia's story. One of them, entrepreneur Erin DeRuggiero, decided to help the now-homeless elderly woman.

Garcia didn't have home owner's insurance, so DeRuggiero launched an online fundraising effort to help buy Garcia a new home.

"I was really just compelled, personally, to do something," she said.

In the first five days of the fundraiser, more than $35,000 of the $50,000 goal has been raised. DeRuggiero hopes a corporate sponsor will match that goal.

"Before the CBS piece aired, I didn't know Barbara Garcia personally, but was incredibly moved by her story and of her reunion with her sweet dog, captured on CBS news (live) after the Moore, Oklahoma tornado on May 20th. Barbara could have been my mother, my grandmother, my neighbour or my friend. I was shattered upon seeing her home destroyed, her recounting her experience and her joy upon seeing that her dog had survived it all. My goal is to ease her recovery, raise enough money to help her start to rebuild or relocate her life, and above all else, to show her that 'life in the big city' also means helping one another, even from 1500 miles away," DeRuggiero wrote on the Gofundme page.

Garcia has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from strangers around the world.

"I didn't know I was that important. Really, truly, I didn't. I just thank everybody," Garcia said in a follow-up interview with CBS News.

The "Build Barbara Garcia a Home" fundraising page can be found here.