Donors Boost Sportswriter’s Holiday Donation and Raise $55,000

• Andy Larsen became an “accidental philanthropist” when multiple donors augmented his holiday donation.
• He discovered $164.84 in loose change in his kiddie piggy banks and decided to donate it.
• But among the requests for financial aid, almost a thousand people boosted his donation — and ended up raising around $55,000!

Sportswriter Andy Larsen became an “accidental philanthropist” over the past month when multiple donors augmented his supposed holiday donation, ultimately raising about $55,000 in total.

It started when Larsen, who works as an NBA writer focusing on Utah Jazz for The Salt Lake Tribune, was contacted by his mother just before Thanksgiving.

She had stumbed upon his childhood piggy banks and asked if he wanted to collect them:

The coins amounted to a total of $164.84. Instead of keeping the change, he decided to donate it to anyone in need.

Larsen told his 27,000 Twitter followers: “I want to give that out to a few people who could use the help for their household’s Thanksgiving dinner or for Christmas presents. My DMs/replies are open.”

Accompanying the requests for aid were unexpected messages from people who wanted to boost his donation!

One man, Jeff Jones, asked for his Venmo details to augment the donation.

Andy, I would like to help. Put me in for $150 towards whomever you find to donate to. Shoot me your Venmo in as message to get you the money.— Jeff Jones (@jjonescpa1) November 24, 2020

Larsen told the Washington Post, “I was shocked that someone would do that. Even more amazing was that minutes later, people began retweeting everywhere and sending me money out of the blue. It just exploded.”

Ultimately, about 200 people asked for help — while almost a thousand donated around $55,000 in a single day!

In all, you guys sent me $54,972 in the effort that came to be known as the Exclamation Point Aid Brigade!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here’s the breakdown of where all of that money went. I hope you approve. https://t.co/yttlCX6wbt— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) December 13, 2020

Larsen tried his best to verify each request. The donations went to several people and charitable organizations. Some received funds for utility bills, groceries, and car repairs, while several families received $200 to help with medical bills.

He also sent $10,000 to RIP Medical Debt, a national nonprofit organization that buys debts from collection agencies and forgives them. The $10,000 donation will roughly translate to about $1 million in debt-reduction relief.

Just got this thank you note from McKay Dee Hospital in Ogden… you guys in the Exclamation Point Aid Brigade sent them $500 to use for lunches for the day and night shift ICU nurses, showing them some support from the community: pic.twitter.com/EVnruSQGqG— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) December 22, 2020

One high school food bank that serves low-income families received $1,000.

Meg Thunell from Kearns High School in Salt Lake County shared, “The compounded goodness of all those people giving without even knowing where it was going restored my faith in people after a long and rough year.”

Share this story to inspire others to give back to the community.

Source: Good News Network