32-year-old Ben Buckley feared he wouldn’t have enough money to buy Christmas presents for his family so he decided to set up a GoFundMe page, hoping to raise £2,000 or $2,500.
He started the campaign after his wife Kirsty suffered complications during pregnancy with their fifth child, forcing him to reduce his working hours and lose money.
She was admitted to hospital with a lung infection and had to go on oxygen.
Mr. Buckley asked people for donations as he “doesn’t want his children to be miserable at this time of year” and was able to raise more than £2,000 in only a few hours.
But the father-of-five from Hull had faced a backlash from trolls and he updated the page to stop accepting donations. He also apologized to people who were upset or offended.
His post read: “I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone, all your kind messages and donations have been overwhelmingly kind. I honestly can’t thank you all enough my self and my family appreciate all your generosity enormously and it will never be forgotten.
“To everybody who posted negative comments we are sorry if we caused any offence or upset anyone, this was never our intention. we never expected this amount of kindness or media attention.
“In the new year we are going to make it one of our priorities to make monthly donations to other GoFundMe accounts. We wish everyone a very merry Christmas and thank you again to all you kind hearted souls.”
Some people tried to message him just to tell him that his target was too extreme, and he explained: “To all the people leaving negative comments I understand where you coming from and what your saying.
“I wouldn’t of gone this route if I had other options I am embarrassed and I’m ashamed I don’t for a second expect to raise £2000 I just put a figure in the box I’m sorry if I’ve upset and people that was never my intention.”
He added: “I’m feeling a lot of panic and anxiety and feeling shameful. It feels embarrassing but I’ve never felt like going doing that (crowdfunding) before. I’ve never done it before. It’s what I figured would make things comfortable.
“At the minute, what I have coming in covers surviving. I don’t like the feeling of being a charity case. I don’t like to feel like I’m begging.”
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