The objective of Damar Hamlin was to raise $2,500 online to purchase toys for underprivileged children.
About two years were needed.
Then, on Monday, during a nationally broadcast game against the Cincinnati Bengals, a Buffalo Bills safety suffered a severe injury and required on-field heart restarting.
Thousands of people discovered his GoFundMe page, and he quickly became one of the sports’ most prominent tales.
The outcome: Donations totaling over $3.7 million in the first 12 hours. And the figure is increasing.
By 10 a.m., a campaign that had raised $2,921 as of the previous month had raised $3,637,590.
Tuesday, over 130,000 people donated an average of roughly $28 online during that time Eastern.
The donations ranged in size. Some cost over $5,000. In the first 12 hours, almost three donations were made on average every second.
Many also brought letters of encouragement for a 24-year-old player in his second season who was sedated in a Cincinnati hospital, listed in serious condition, and whose teammates were reluctant to return to Buffalo so they could be near him.
There are times in life when everything stops, as Michael Lynch, a donor on Tuesday morning, put it in a letter.
“Everyone of us prays for two things.
Messages flooded in from many fan bases, with many donors announcing their support for other teams.
One of them included the hashtag “we are all Bills supporters.”
In December 2020, Hamlin created the GoFundMe page. He had recently finished his undergraduate studies and was preparing for the NFL draft.
In addition, he planned to organize a toy drive at Kelly and Nina’s Daycare Center in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, a community of around 6,000 people on the southern bank of the Ohio River.
JOIN US ON WHAT'SAPP, TO GET INSTANT STATUS UPDATES AND BE IN THE KNOW.
CLICK HERE
