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When her 5-year-old broke his leg, this mom raised $0. It's actually inspiring.

Her crowdfunding alternative is so obvious, it's shocking America hasn't taken advantage of it.

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A bad injury doesn't come with a cost.

Freddie Teer is a normal boy. He loves Legos, skateboarding, and horsing around with his older brother Ollie. But in March 2017, his mother faced every parent's worst nightmare.Freddie was doing tricks down the stairs of his front porch when he fell off his bike—and his bike fell on him. "[He was] just crying, wouldn't let us touch his leg, couldn't put any weight on his leg. We knew," mom Ashley says.

Ashley rushed Freddie to the emergency room, where an X-ray confirmed the bones in his left shin were broken in half. He needed to be sedated, his bones had to be set, and he was put in a cast. It was an agonizing day for the Teers. But it's what happened next that was truly inspiring.

green and yellow bike lying in grass beside red shoesFreddie fell of his bike—and his bike fell on him. Photo via iStock

We've all seen heartwarming stories of communities coming together to raise money online to help people cover medical care costs for themselves and loved ones.

There was the Kentucky mom with stage 4 cancer whose family collected over $1 million. The New Orleans police officer whose unit banked thousands for her chemotherapy. The Colorado man who lost his legs and whose friends crowdfunded his recovery.

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Many Americans raise money and receive donations to cover healthcare costs.

Photo byMonam/Pixabay

While Freddie's injury required major treatment, none of Ashley's friends raised any money for him.

No one from their town took up a collection or held a bake sale.

No GoFundMe page was started to help cover his bills.

Instead, Ashley and Freddie walked out of the hospital owing nothing. Because they live in Canada.

"You just leave," Ashley says. "You don't pay anything."

Incredible.

Under Canada's healthcare system, people like the Teers can see their doctors and go to the hospital when they're hurt or sick, and they don't get charged.

So heartwarming.

It almost wasn't this way.

Ashley was born and raised in St. Louis in the U.S. where health care is expensive and complicated. In 2005, she fell in love with a Canadian man and moved with him to Abbotsford, British Columbia, where they and their five children will enjoy heavily subsidized, affordable health care coverage at a low premium for the remainder of their natural lives.

"We're able to go when we need help and we get help," Ashley says.

Just amazing.

As Freddie recovered, no one showed up at the Teer home with a large check or collection plate full of cash.

Instead, Ashley and her family were "supported through meals and just that kind of care"—meals they were able to enjoy without having to decide between enduring the shame of hitting up their friends for money or facing the prospect of sliding into bankruptcy.

two boys playing outside

Freddie (right) and his brother Ollie.

Photo by Ashley Teer.

The most uplifting part? Middle-income Canadians like the Teers pay taxes at roughly the same rates as Americans and still get their bones fixed for free at hospitals.

Not everything about Freddie's recovery process was smooth.

The first night, Freddie tossed and turned in severe pain, unable to sleep. Ashley, however, was able to call her family doctor—who she never has to pay since he is compensated by a public system that continues to have overwhelming public support to this day (though support has dipped slightly in recent years)—to get her son a codeine prescription. Miraculous!

Canada's public health care plan doesn't cover drugs. But, inspiringly, because of price controls, medicine is way cheaper there.

The Teers did lean on their friends and family for help while Freddie got better.

"We were kind of just asking people to pray," she explains—primarily to lift her son's spirits, and not, thankfully, to ask God to provide sufficient funds to cover basic medical care that every human living in a fair and prosperous society should have access to.

Even though he wasn't able to move around, friends and relatives eagerly invited Freddie to hang out during his recovery instead avoiding him out of guilt for not pledging enough to his GoFundMe campaign.

young boy in a cast sitting by corn stalks

Freddie with his cast in the garden.

Photo by Ashley Teer.

Just. Wow.

With support from his community, Freddie's cast came off six weeks later, right on schedule.

Healthy once more, Freddie went right back to enjoying extreme sports like BMX biking, skateboarding, and snowboarding, and Ashley is free to let him enjoy them without worrying about one fall wiping out their entire life savings and leaving her family destitute.

"Where we live, we're not stressful when things happen to our kids," Ashley says. "It's not a stressful time financially, so the whole family is not anxious."

It's peace of mind that she—and the residents of virtually every other rational, wealthy, industrialized country in the world—share.

"I feel safe, and I feel like my voice is heard," she says. "I can't imagine living in a place that I didn't feel that way."


This article originally appeared seven years ago.

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Help is on the way for a desperate mom who couldn't find size 23 shoes for her teenage son

Her son Eric Kilburn Jr. is a 6'10" freshman in high school.

via GoFundMe

A size 21 Nike shoe made for Tacko Fall.

A local reporter at Hometown Life shared a unique and heartfelt story on March 16 about a mother struggling to find shoes that fit her 14-year-old son. The story resonated with parents everywhere; now, her son is getting the help he desperately needs. It's a wonderful example of people helping a family that thought they had nowhere to turn.

When Eric Kilburn Jr. was born, his mother, Rebecca’s OBGYN, told her that he had the “biggest feet I’ve ever seen in my life. Do not go out and buy baby shoes because they’re not gonna fit,’” Rebecca told Today.com. Fourteen years later, it’s almost impossible to find shoes that fit the 6’10” freshman—he needs a size 23.

The teen's height doesn't stem from a gland issue; he comes from a family of tall people. Both his parents are over 6 feet tall.

Eric plays football for Goodrich High School in Goodrich, Michigan, but doesn’t wear cleats, which led to a sprained ankle. He also suffers from ingrown toenails that are so severe he’s had two nails on his biggest toes permanently removed.

Last year, the family was lucky enough to stumble upon five pairs of size 21 shoes at a Nike outlet store. It was discovered they were made especially for Tacko Fall, the NBA player with some of the most enormous feet in the game. To put things in perspective, Shaquille O’Neal wears a size 22.

However, Eric soon grew out of those as well. The family was left with one more option: have orthopedic shoes made for Eric at the cost of $1,500 with no guarantee he won’t quickly grow out of those as well.

After his mother’s heartfelt plea to Hometown Life, the family got much-needed help from multiple companies, including Under Armour and PUMA, who are sending representatives to Michigan to measure his feet for custom shoes.

CAT has reached out to make him a custom pair of boots. Eric hasn't had any boots to wear for the past five Michigan winters.

Kara Pattison started a GoFundMe campaign on behalf of the family to help them purchase custom shoes for “the rest of the time Eric has these feet.” It has raised nearly $20,000 for the family in just over a week.

“The success of this fundraiser is well beyond what was ever expected,” Pattison wrote on the site on March 18. “The Kilburns plan to open a bank account dedicated to Eric's future footwear and some specialized sports equipment. He can use this to get a helmet that fits for football along with pads. They will also look into a football and track jersey for him.”

The sense of relief felt by Rebecca, Eric and the rest of the Kilburn family must be incredible. It has to be frustrating to be unable to provide your child with something as basic as footwear.

“It’s been overwhelming,” Rebecca told Hometown Life. “I have been this puddle of emotions, all of them good…It’s the coolest thing to be able to say we did it! He has shoes! I am not usually a crier, but I have been in a constant state of happy tears…We are so grateful.”


This article originally appeared on 03.23.23

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Man shares epic story of accidentally donating $15K to charity and it blows up online

You can't make this stuff up.

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New fear: unlocked

Sometimes life plays out just like a sitcom.

This is certainly the case for a California resident named Michael who goes byu/lazybear90 on Reddit. On May 26, Michael detailed an epic donation-to-charity fail to the r/TIFU subreddit, and it’s almost too far-fetched to believe, and definitely too funny not to share.

So the story goes: Michael had just moved into a new three-unit apartment building in San Francisco with his wife. Their neighbor, nicknamed “Joe” for the story, was a 70-something year old retired veteran and devout Hindu priest.

Wanting to support his new neighbor, Michael generously agreed to donate $150 to a community in Bangladesh through GoFundMe.

What a nice gesture. Except for one not-so-tiny issue. Michael donated $15,000 instead.

“I get a text on my phone warning me of an unusually large transaction on my credit card. I’m confused and swipe to open the text message. It says I have made a payment of $15,041 to GoFundMe. Immediately I’m sweating. How could I have donated FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS?” he wrote on Reddit.

After retracing his steps, Michael realized he typed part of his credit card number into the donation box by mistake. “Just like that 150 became 15041. Yikes.”
gofundme

Whoops

i.imgur.com

Michael immediately contacted GoFundMe ,who assured him that there’s “no need to worry” since can process a refund in 3-7 business days.

Problem solved, right? Wrong.

Michale continued: “then I ask the agent if the charity will be able to see the donation on the GoFundMe page until it is refunded. ‘What do you mean?’ the agent asks me. ‘What do YOU mean what do I mean?’ was my response. ‘Will they be able to see the $15,041 donation?!’” The answer, woefully, was yes.

Michael planned on telling Joe what had happened the next morning, hopefully before too much info had spread. But it was already too late by then. He awoke to 40+ Facebook notifications, and was sent many messages by one name in particular with a Hindu name.

One of those messages revealed that the man was indeed from Bangladesh, and was surrounded by “dozens of impoverished and hungry people holding bags of food” who not only applauded Michael but thanked him BY NAME for the generous donation. Oy vey.

bangladesh

Michael received dozens of photos just like this one

i.imgur.com

“At this point, I’ve leapt out of my bed and I’m pacing. Part of me wants to scream, part of me wants to crack up laughing. I start swiping through the man’s messages, and it is picture after picture after picture of poor Bangladeshis thanking me for my kind donation. Literally hundreds of photos of frail, elderly, disabled, and malnourished individuals holding signs with my name. Thank you, Michael. Thank you, Michael.” Good grief, will the hits never stop coming?

Luckily, this is where the story really turns around.

After getting his refund, Michael ended up donating $1500 rather than $150 after seeing how the community responded, and was told that it would still go “very far for urgent food relief.” Then, folks who had seen Michael’s story on Reddit began donating to the same GoFundMe page.

THEN, the story was read out loud on the super popular Youtube channel Smosh Pit as part of its series “Reading Reddit Stories,” and things really took off. So many “heard about this on Smosh” donations began rolling that the fundraiser now has over $120,000.

In a follow up post, Michael thanked the Reddit community for turning his snafu into a bona fide miracle. Apparently the charity was running on fumes and looking to cancel some of its programs before sudden windfall. In his view, he not only helped a great cause, he got a funny story out of it. A total win-win in the end.

If you’d like to donate to the Bangladeshi community from this story, you can find the GoFundMe here. Just be sure to double check your donation amount!

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8-year-old raises $100,000 after finding out his favorite Waffle House server lived in a motel

Living in a hotel with his family has been the safer option for the health of his daughters.

THV11/Youtube

Boy raises $100,000 for Waffle House server who lived in a motel.

Everyone has their favorite place to eat, and if you visit enough, you get to know the regular servers and sometimes even form a bit of a friendship with them. When 8-year-old Kayzen Hunter started going to a local Waffle House in Arkansas with his parents and sometimes grandpa, he became familiar with his server, Devonte Gardner. Actually, Gardner became Kayzen's favorite server, giving him high fives and letting Kayzen tell him jokes.

The relationship between Gardner and Kayzen's family continued to develop, which led to the little boy noticing Gardner was often dropped off for work because he didn't have a car. Eventually, the Hunter family found out Gardner had a wife and two daughters who were living in a hotel because of issues in their previous home.

“We wanted to find something affordable, so we moved into a low-income area," Gardner told Today.com "We just got tired of infestations with rats and roaches and all this black mold. My daughters were getting sick. No heat and things like that. When it was cold outside, we had to bundle up with like four or five blankets in order to stay warm."


Garner had been living in a hotel with his wife and two daughters, who are 2 and 3 years old, for the past eight months. I'm sure most people have spent a night or two in a hotel, and unless it's a penthouse suite, the space is crowded with more than two people in a room. It serves the purpose for a vacation, but living in a standard hotel room would likely begin to take a toll on your mental health as well as your finances. But when your options are limited, it's an understandable best option.

Of course, after learning this information about his Waffle House best bud, Kayzen wanted to do something to help. That's when he came up with the idea to start a GoFundMe to help Gardner get a car to help him get back and forth to work. Kayzen's mom took a bit of convincing to get on board, but since 8-year-olds can't open an account on their own, his mom had to sign off.

Originally, the goal for the fundraiser was set at $500 to help Gardner get back and forth to work, but as it started to gain more traction, it blew past the original goal and continued to climb. People were moved by the GoFundMe page written by Kayzen and his mom.

“Devonte is one of the most joyous and positive people you’ve ever met!! He always greets us with the biggest smile,” Kayzen wrote on the GoFundMe. “I hope your heart is as BIG as mine and you will help me spread kindness in the world. Any amount helps!!”

Gardner has big plans for the money raised by Kayzen, but his first step is moving into a brand new apartment. The father of two told Today.com that he recently signed the lease on a two-bedroom apartment. As for the rest of the money? Well, the donations keep pouring in. It's currently up to $108,000, and Garner isn't planning on spending it frivolously.

“I’m gonna save the rest because I want to put my daughters in a good school, I want them to be in a good environment,” Gardner explained to Today.com. “Everything I’m getting is going mostly towards my daughters to make sure they have a great, great life. Make sure we won’t have to struggle anymore.”

And yes, he still works at Waffle House and greets Kayzen and his family just like always, high five and all.

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