Bullied Bus Monitor Karen Klein Receives $703,000 Check (VIDEO)
Karen Klein, the 68-year-old bus monitor from upstate New York, captured the nation's hearts in June following the release of a viral video showing four students aggressively bullying her. Tuesday, she was presented with a $703,000 check from a kind-hearted campaigner.
The grandmother received an oversized check from 25-year-old Max Sidorov, in Toronto, Canada. Sidorov created an online campaign on Indiegogo.com after viewing the heart-wrenching video to help raise donated funds for Klein to take a much-deserved vacation.
"Well I haven't planned any personal vacations, people have been planning them for me ... like coming here, going to Boston, New York ... things like that," Klein told CBC News.
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"What I'm more concerned about right now is not the past that happened, but the future of what hopefully will happen that kids will stop bullying and stop being mean just be nice to people ... be good to people. That's basically what I'm concerned about right now," she added.
Klein is donating at least $100,000 to an anti-bullying charity in an attempt to help raise awareness, particularly among young people. Sidorov is also committed to a similar cause and hopes that his kind gesture will help create global change.
"We have the same goal in mind. Something so bad bloomed to something so beautiful. Now we can impact greater change, one person is now helping out millions ... we wanna raise money for free counseling for bullied kids," Sidorov said about their anti-bullying goals.
It is understood that more than 30,000 people donated money to Sidorov's campaign for Klein, and they were reportedly from over 80 countries.
In the YouTube video which received more than two million views worldwide, four middle school students harassed and insulted Klein about her appearance, economic status, and even about her son's suicide, which all reduced her to tears.
All students were reportedly suspended and forced to apologize and Sidorov admitted that the video baffled him.
"I can't believe that someone could say anything mean to such a nice lady like her, seriously I can't," Sidorov said regarding Klein's bullying incident.
