https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/lifestyle\/2023\/06\/29\/charity-reddit-mistake-bangladesh-gofundme\/<\/a><\/p>\nThe typo, which the man wrote about on Reddit, spurred thousands of people to contribute to a food relief fundraiser for poor communities in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
A California man and his wife had recently moved into a new apartment building in San Francisco when they met a neighbor who is a Hindu priest.<\/p>\n
The priest, Jeff Dunan (Vasanta Das ACBSP), 77, told the man about an organization he volunteers for, Bangladesh Relief \u2014 which provides food, clothing and essential supplies to underprivileged people in northern Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
The man decided to donate to Dunan\u2019s GoFundMe campaign, and settled on $150, thinking that was the right amount to give.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was a good cause, and a neighborly thing to do,\u201d said Michael, 31, who asked to be referred to only by his first name for privacy reasons, saying he preferred to divert attention away from himself and toward the cause.<\/p>\n
Shortly after making his donation on the GoFundMe campaign that day in February 2022, though, Michael received a notification from his credit card company, warning him of a suspiciously large transaction. He swiped to open the text message, which alerted him to a $15,041 charge from GoFundMe.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a complete typo screw up,\u201d he said in an interview with The Washington Post this week, owning his mistake. When he saw the five-figure number, \u201cI was so bewildered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon, it all made sense. Michael\u2019s credit card number started with four and one. Clearly, he said, he accidentally began typing his credit card information while his cursor was still in the donation box.<\/p>\n
Michael called GoFundMe\u2019s support line in a panic and explained the mistaken donation. To his relief, he was told he would be refunded for the mishap within three to seven business days.<\/p>\n
Still, there was a major complication: The $15,000 donation \u2014 which more than doubled the total amount raised at the time \u2014 would remain on the GoFundMe page until the refund was processed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018Oh no, that\u2019s a problem,\u2019\u201d Michael recalled, adding that he planned to call Dunan to explain.<\/p>\n
But before he had the chance to do that, he started receiving Facebook notifications and messages from Shohag Chandra, the charity\u2019s Bangladesh-based program manager, thanking him profusely for his substantial donation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe man had sent me a video of himself from Bangladesh, surrounded by dozens of impoverished and hungry people holding bags of food, thanking me BY NAME,\u201d Michael wrote in a Reddit post about a month ago, documenting what happened. \u201cI start swiping through the man\u2019s messages, and it is picture after picture after picture of poor Bangladeshis thanking me for my kind donation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dunan and his colleagues in Bangladesh were blown away by the sizable donation \u2014 which was far beyond what they had ever received in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were floored,\u201d said Dunan, who became involved with the charity three years ago.<\/p>\n
Looking through the photos of people holding thank-you signs that said his name, Michael\u2019s heart sank. He felt terrible that he had to revoke his hefty donation, and even though he still intended to contribute the $150 he had originally planned to give, he wanted to offer more.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt so bad about the mistake that I made,\u201d said Michael. \u201cI was definitely stressing about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once his original contribution was refunded, he decided to donate $1,500.<\/p>\n
Dunan was understanding about the accident, and grateful for Michael\u2019s still-significant donation \u2014 which, he told him, would make a meaningful impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny donation, any size, goes a long way,\u201d Dunan said.<\/p>\n
The charity\u2019s leaders in Bangladesh, too, were thankful for Michael\u2019s revised donation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is a lot for us,\u201d said Chandra, explaining that the organization supports \u201cmillions of the poorest and most needy people in Bangladesh,\u201d where more than 20 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are really thankful,\u201d he said, calling Michael the \u201cmost kindhearted person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Michael had told family and friends about the typo tale in the months that followed the mishap, he decided to share the saga publicly on Reddit, after Dunan recently told him the organization was desperately in need of funds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe least I could do was take the time to post this story online and see if I can inspire other people to donate to this cause,\u201d Michael said.<\/p>\n
Little did he know, though, that the story would be seen far and wide, garnering more than $120,000 for Bangladesh Relief in the span of only a few weeks \u2014 about eight times Michael\u2019s mistaken donation.<\/p>\n
As Michael\u2019s post gained momentum on Reddit and other social media sites \u2014 including YouTube, where a popular channel, Smosh Pit, featured the story \u2014 donations to a new GoFundMe campaign poured in. According to Dunan, more than 3,700 people have contributed because of Michael\u2019s post.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re astonished that there are this many people that have the heart to share what they can,\u201d said Dunan. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a wave of support that has superseded anything we\u2019ve attempted to do so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
When people donated, they left lighthearted comments, such as: \u201cwe\u2019re all here to make up for Michael\u2019s mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many people also drew parallels between Michael\u2019s mistake and \u201cThe Office\u201d \u201cScott\u2019s Tots\u201d episode, in which the character Michael Scott could not keep his promise to pay for the college tuition of an entire third grade class.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely a funny coincidence that we are both Michael,\u201d said Michael, adding that he had \u201cso much fun reading the comments,\u201d and couldn\u2019t stop refreshing the GoFundMe page to see the rising total.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love that Michael\u2019s story inspired others to rally behind this fundraiser and multiply his generosity,\u201d said Sarah Peck, GoFundMe\u2019s senior director of public affairs.<\/p>\n
Now, Bangladesh Relief is planning to expand its services beyond food relief, clothing and supplies to include medication for those in need. The funds will also go toward supporting local orphans.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy his donations, our programs are going in a good position,\u201d said Chandra, explaining that the people the charity serves are already reaping the benefits of the increased funding. \u201cThey are very grateful. You can see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
To everyone who has contributed to the campaign, Chandra said, \u201cWe are really thankful for you. This is unforgettable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael said he has been stunned by the ongoing outpouring of support.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever in my wildest dreams did I imagine this reaction,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople can be amazing when they come together for something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Source: https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/lifestyle\/2023\/06\/29\/charity-reddit-mistake-bangladesh-gofundme\/ The typo, which the man wrote about on Reddit, spurred thousands of people to contribute to a food relief fundraiser for poor communities in Bangladesh. A California man and his wife had recently moved into a new apartment building in San Francisco when they met a neighbor who is a Hindu priest. The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112338"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112341,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112338\/revisions\/112341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}