SYDNEY -- An Australian boy with dwarfism whose distress from bullying became a viral video will donate hundreds-of-thousands of dollars in donations to charity rather than a trip to Disneyland.
The clip of 9-year-old Quaden Bayles showed him crying and repeatedly saying he wanted to die after being bullied at school, sparking an outpouring of support from around the world.
The video was watched millions of times and prompted US comedian Brad Williams to start a GoFundMe page that eventually raised almost $475,000 (P24 million).
Although the funds were meant to send Bayles and his mother to Disneyland, his aunt told Australia's NITV News that the money would be used for charities instead.
"What kid wouldn't want to go to Disneyland, especially if you have lived Quaden's life. To escape to anywhere that is fun that doesn't remind him of his day to day challenges," she was quoted as saying.
"But my sister said 'you know what, let's get back to the real issue'. This little fella has been bullied. How many suicides, black or white, in our society have happened due to bullying."
"We want the money to go to community organizations that really need it. They know what the money should be spent on, So as much as we want to go to Disneyland, I think our community would far off benefit from that."
Australian actor Hugh Jackman and NBA player Enes Kanter were among the hundreds of thousands posting support for Bayles.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
SYDNEY, Australia—An online fundraiser for koalas injured in devastating bushfires topped Aus$1 million ($680,000) on Thursday, making it Australia's biggest campaign on the GoFundMe platform this year.
Deadly bushfires have ravaged vast swathes of eastern Australia, and wildlife carers estimate the blazes have killed hundreds of koalas this month in New South Wales state alone.
A crowdfunding page set up by the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital to provide automatic water drinking stations for wild koalas soared past Aus$1 million, with donations from more than 20,000 people from countries including the United States, France and England.
The wildlife charity's "Help Thirsty Koalas Devastated by Recent Fires" drive, which had an initial goal of just Aus$25,000, got more donations than any other campaign in Australia this year, GoFundMe said, and is the second-biggest since the platform launched Down Under in 2016.
It is one of 700 bushfire-related fundraisers launched on the platform in the past 10 days, which to date have raised a combined total of Aus$2 million.
The next-biggest has raised Aus$60,000 to support firefighters and people impacted by the blazes, which have killed 6 people, razed hundreds of homes and scorched about 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of land since October.
The koala hospital, some 4 hours north of Sydney, has rescued 31 koalas from the scorched bush in recent weeks, and said it had been "overwhelmed by the kindness, good wishes and support from the Australian and international community."
It plans to use the excess funds to deliver koala drinking stations to other parts of the state, purchase a water-carrying vehicle to replenish the stations, and to establish a koala breeding program.
With more than 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres) of land scorched in the state, the fires have also destroyed large tracts of the tree-dwelling marsupial's habitat.
A so-called "Koala Ark" would be built for recovering koalas, the hospital said, hoping they will eventually breed and be returned to the wild.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Thieves reportedly stole $5,000 worth of toys and bikes collected by Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Kenny Clark, but the unknown Grinches couldn't crush his community's Christmas spirit.
Clark's second annual toy drive proceeded as scheduled Thursday in his hometown of San Bernardino, Calif., thanks to some generous last-minute donations.
"A lot of people have stepped up," Clark told ESPN. "I know they created a GoFundMe account and people have been donating to that, just to get some toys back for the kids. All that stuff has been pretty cool. There's been a lot of people hitting us up and trying to do the best they can to help."
Clark said he and his family had been collecting the toys, including new bicycles, for several months. The theft, which he said has been reported to police, occurred on the property he purchased for his mother after Green Bay made him a first-round pick in 2016.
"It's just messed up, man," Clark said. "It's for a bunch of kids, man. It's difficult, especially for my family and my mom. My mom, she works hard to do it. It's really difficult for her because she worked so hard throughout the whole year putting it together."
Packers linebacker Clay Matthews volunteered to help his teammate and expressed his disgust.
"It's a shame. Thieves, there's no moral code or anything, especially with those gifts and who they were going to," Matthews said. "You'd like to think that people are better than that."
--Field Level Media
source: news.abs-cbn.com
A mother who used herself as a shield to try to protect her 4 young children when a gunman opened fire inside a Texas church on Sunday lost her life but helped save her 5-year-old son and one of her daughters.
Joann Ward pushed her 9-year-old daughter Rihanna to the floor when a gunman sprayed shots inside First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, then embraced her three other children, according to an account of her response shared by a family friend on Facebook.
“I didn’t get shot because I was hiding, and Momma covered Emily, Ryland & Brooke," Rihanna recounted, according to the post by the family friend, Vonda Greek Smith.
Twenty-six churchgoers were killed in the shooting. Joann Ward and daughter Brooke, 5, were among those who died at the scene. Ward's daughter Emily, 7, died at the hospital.
Son Ryland, 5, was shot five times and was in critical condition after surgery, according to a GoFundMe page set up by a relative, Heather Bradley, to raise money for the family.
"Ryland survived multiple gunshot wounds, went thru extensive surgeries and will have a very long road back to full recovery," Smith said on Facebook.
At the time of the shooting, Ward's husband Chris was at home sleeping after a night shift, the Dallas Morning News reported.
The children's aunt, Leslie Ward, was at her nearby home when she heard gunshots and awakened her husband, Michael Ward, the newspaper reported. He went to the church and carried out his nephew Ryland.
He told his brother of the tragedy. "I'm not lying to you, Chris, they're all shot," Michael Ward recalled saying, according to the newspaper.
The Wards were longtime members of First Baptist, and the congregation felt "like a family," grandmother Sandy Ward told MSNBC.
A photo of Brooke taken in the church a week ago, according to the
GoFundMe page, showed her smiling, her blonde pigtails braided, and
sitting in a ruffled skirt on the pastor's motorcycle.
Another showed the child beaming as she held up her Kindergarten
Perfect Attendance Award and Citizenship Certificate, both dated last
month.
"Joann was the most wonderful mom any child could wish for and her
children were always laughing and loving life," Ward's uncle John
Alexander wrote on the GoFundMe page.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
HOUSTON, Texas - When Jad and Bell Destajo bought their first home 5 months ago, it was a dream come true for their young family. That was before Hurricane Harvey.
While their area was not directly hit by the storm, floodwaters from overflowed waterways inundated their home, slowly destroying it.
They waited too long to evacuate the neighborhood. All they could think about is how they can get out alive. The couple said they held their children as they waited for rescue.
"Grabe, iba talaga ang feeling na yon, iba talaga pag buhay at kamatayan, survival o kamatayan mo ang nakasalalay... You try to do everything,” said Jed.
(It's a different feeling, when it's a matter of life and death... You try to do everything.)
The floodwater s rose up to chest deep. When they got into the rescue boat, Bell saw that she was bleeding heavily, a complication from the recent caesarian birth of her youngest child.
"Kailangan kong mabuhay dahil ang baby ko. Kailangan kong lumangoy,” she said.
(I have to stay alive for my baby. I have to swim.)
The Destajos have since returned to their home and taken out the flood-damaged furniture. Like 80 percent of Houston’s flood victims, they didn’t have flood insurance.
“2016 and 2017 is the toughest year for us. Hindi po naming alam kung saan kami kukuha ng pang survive namin pang araw-araw. Pero malaki po ang pasasalamat namin sa lahat ng tumulong,“ Bell said.
(We don't know where to get money to survive from day to day. But we are thankful to everyone who helped.)
The Destajos have a Facebook fundraiser page and a GoFundMe where they are accepting donations.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
