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| School Bus Monitor Karen Klein |
Barely a week after the online fundraising effort for the New York school bus monitor was launched, the donations have reached $648,000 as of Monday. The campaign, which original goal was set at $5,000 to send Klein on a vacation, will remain open to donations for 26 more days.
The fund for Klein was started by Max Sidorov last Wednesday on Indiegogo.com, a site devoted to raising money for various causes. It was after a 10-minute video of the 68-year-old being bullied by a group of middle schoolers inside a school bus made its way on Youtube. At one point in the video, Klein can be seen breaking down in tears while the kids continue to call her names.
As the video became viral, the campaign managed to raise half a million dollars for the bus monitor in less than 48 hours.
Klein, who drove a school bus for 20 years and has been a monitor for three, is earning $15,000 a year.
In a June 25 interview on "Today," Klein said, "I keep thinking, what have I done? It’s like, I don’t, almost feel like I deserve it. I’m glad that its come out, and that everyone knows what goes on."
When asked about her plans on the donations, she responded, "What would anybody do with that much money? I’d like to invest some, of course, donate to charity, my daughter, other daughter, they need cars, they need. It never ends."
