Best way to set up a place for people to make a donation to a friend in need.?

I have a friend who has had a string of bad luck including totalling hiss new truck on the way home from the dealership and having all his kids Christmas gifts stolen from it while at the tow lot. There are aa bunch of us from a chaatroom that would like to set up a fund to donate some money to him to replace the stolen gifts. Since we don't live in close proximity I ws hoping there is a way to set up a site where people could go and donate a few dollars to our friend. I've done some searching but it's all so confusing. Is there aa way to do this?