In the wake of the horrible tragedy in Boston this week, we’ve seen how compassionate and giving mankind can be. Strangers have banded together from all over the world to raise money for those severely injured in the Marathon bombing blasts. Crowdfunding sites have gone into overdrive to bring aid to these victims.
Cnet reported that as of yesterday afternoon, Bucks for Bauman on GoFundMe has raised more than $192,000 in two days for Jeff Bauman, a 27-year-old marathon spectator who lost both legs to the blasts. Bauman also reportedly helped ID the suspects from his hospital bed.
The site added, “Another GoFundMe site, the Celeste & Sydney Recovery Fund, has as of this writing raised more than $396,000 of its $500,000 goal to aid Celeste Corcoran and teenage daughter Sydney. Celeste lost both legs in the bombing and Sydney suffered severe shrapnel injuries to one of her legs.”
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Celeste’s cousin Alyssa Carter, who started the fund, said, “There is a long road ahead – both physically and emotionally – and we’re hoping to relieve some of the financial burden by raising funds in their name.”
In addition, friends of newlyweds Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky, who each lost a left leg below the knee, started a crowdfunding campaign through Give Forward to raise money for surgeries and rehabilitation costs. So far, it has raised more than $438,000 toward a $500,000 goal.
Ann and Eric Whalley’s Give Forward campaign has already surpassed it’s $83,000 goal and was headed toward $100K as of Friday afternoon. Cnet wrote, “Both 65-year-olds were injured while cheering on the runners, though Eric is faced with brain trauma as well as external injuries.” Their campaign creators posted a note saying “that all money raised will go to the family and that any leftover funds, if there are any, will be distributed to other victims.”
When Christine Hart, of Westford, MA, heard that her lifelong friend Roseann Sdoia had to have her right leg amputated as a result of the attack, she set up a GoFundMe account to collect donations, New York Daily News reported. Within the first few hours of posting the campaign to Facebook, Hart estimates that the site raised around $10,000. As of Friday evening, she’s collected close to $150,000.
Crowdfunding has become an increasingly common way to help out victims in times of crisis. We saw a lot of this during the Hurricane Sandy tragedy, and it allows people to personally connect to victims and provide a virtual helping hand. GiveForward estimates that people raised more than $2.8 billion through online crowdsourcing in 2012.
Other crowdfunding sites being used for the Boston Marathon victims include FundRazr, YouCaring and Fundly.
Read the full Cnet story here.
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