British schoolboy’s bike ride raises tens of thousands for Haiti in single day
By APMonday, January 25, 2010
UK 7-year-old raises tens of thousands for Haiti
LONDON — A young British schoolboy has raised more than 100,000 pounds ($160,000) Monday for Haiti’s relief effort by cycling round his local park.
Seven-year-old Charlie Simpson was so upset by the images of Haiti’s deadly earthquake that he asked his mother if she could help him set up a sponsored bicycle ride around a west London park.
Charlie originally hoped to raise 500 pounds (for UNICEF’s Haiti appeal with Sunday’s 5-mile (8-kilometer) bike ride, but his Internet page was flooded with donations.
He raised nearly 50,000 pounds in a single day. Charlie’s story was splashed on the front page of Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper on Monday, and money is still flooding in.
“I want to make some money to buy food, water and tents for everyone in Haiti,” he said on his fundraising Web site.
The effort drew the attention of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, with his office Downing Street posting on Twitter: “Amazed by response to the great fundraising efforts of 7 yr old.”
The boy’s mother Leonora Simpson said she was amazed by the response. “We put it on the Web and that was it, it suddenly took off and we can’t believe it,” she said.
