A 21-year-old beautician was so upset last week after hearing about a disabled elderly man injured in a mugging that she started an online campaign to help him.
Donations for the Englishman, Alan Barnes, surged when the campaign went viral and so far has raised more than $474,000 (£316K).
Katie Cutler explained on her GoFundMe page that 67-year-old Alan Barnes was born with a number of defects after his mother contracted German Measles during Pregnancy. He was taking out the trash at his home in Gateshead when a thug demanded money and knocked him down after finding his pockets empty. After being treated for a broken collar bone, the man went to stay with his sister and was “too frightened to return to his home.”
Katie set a goal of raising £500, but well-wishers from as far away as New Zealand pushed the total to 600 times that amount. The money raised should make easy work of his search for new accommodations in a safer neighborhood.
“We can’t take away what has happened,” she wrote on her fundraising page. “But with a little donation we can make the future a prettier one & help towards the cost of his new home.”
“We’ve showed him that there are more good than bad people in this world,” wrote donor Sara Phillips on the webpage.
(WATCH a video of Alan thanking supporters from the The Telegraph *NOTE auto-playing audio, so adjust your speakers)
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