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The CEO of crowdfunding website GoFundMe says the donation response to the bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos hockey team is unprecedented in Canada
“The outpouring of support has been like nothing we’ve really ever seen in Canada,” GoFundMe CEO Rob Solomon told CP24 Monday. “There’s been over five million dollars raised. Seven thousand people have come together to help raise money for the campaign.”
The page was started by Humboldt resident Sylvie Kellington after news emerged on Friday of the deadly crash that left 15 people dead.
“Please help us raise money for the players and families affected. Money will go directly to families to help with any expenses incurred,” Kellington wrote on the page April 6.
By Saturday morning, more than $200,000 had poured in to the verified GoFundMe page from Canada and around the world.
As news of the tragedy spread, numerous individuals and organizations, especially in the hockey world, opened their wallets to help.
“Some of the largest hockey organizations in the country are making donations,” Solomon said.
That includes money from various NHL players and teams.
However Solomon said the bulk of the donations have come from small donors from around the world, with the average donation being around 50 dollars.
“So it’s people who are coming together to say ‘I wanna help’ and they’re doing it in any way they can,” he said.
On Sunday, Humboldt Broncos President Kevin Garinger said the amount of money raised was “staggering” and said the team will be bringing in professionals to help make sure the money is allocated to the victims and their families in the most helpful way possible.
“It just shows the power of when people want to help each other out, they can do a lot more together than they can on their own,” Solomon said.
“Hockey is like religion or more than religion in Canada and the tragedy here was such that people around the world wanted to do anything they can to say ‘we support you, Humboldt, we support the Broncos’ and a few days later you’re at $5 million from over 65 countries.”
On Sunday night, Kellington posted an update thanking all those who donated and offered prayers.
“There are no words that could express the incredible support the hockey community has seen here,” she said.
