Man wanted to give $150 to charity. A typo saw him donate $15,000 and become an accidental 'hero' instead
Helping people in need is a great way to contribute to the world. However, people cannot donate beyond their means as it can prove to be harmful for them in the long run. A man from San Francisco, who accidentally donated $15,000 instead of $150, was later hailed a 'hero'. The man, u/lazybear on Reddit, writes, "This happened in February of last year, but my friends have been telling me I need to post this story online … so here goes nothing."
The man shares the story of the time when he and his wife moved into a new three-unit apartment building in San Francisco. They soon met one of their neighbors who was a 70-something-year-old retired veteran. "For context, Joe is a white American guy and he’s also a devout Hindu priest. One day I ran into Joe in my hallway, and he told me about this charity he manages for a community in Bangladesh. I wanted to support my neighbor and the charity, so I asked Joe to send me the GoFundMe link," the man named Michael writes.
He then says how the next day he visited the GoFundMe page and donated $150, "Or so I thought," he says. Moments later he gets a message on the phone which warns him of an unusually large transaction on his credit card. "I’m confused and swipe to open the text message. It says I have made a payment of $15,041 to GoFundMe," the man writes. "Immediately I’m sweating. How could I have donated FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS? I spend the next 10-15 minutes retracing my steps, and finally, I realize my credit card starts with the numbers 4 and 1. It seems I had accidentally started typing my credit card information while my cursor was still in the donation box, and just like that 150 became 15041. Yikes," the man writes.
He then called the fundraiser website's support line and explained to the human the whole situation. "'No need to worry', he tells me, they will initiate a refund of the transaction which should process in 3-7 business days. That’s a huge relief. " He then asked the agent if the charity would be able to see the donation until it is refunded, to which he replied, "Unfortunately, yes, the agent tells me."
He then says how he planned to talk to Joe the following morning. However, before he could do that he started getting texts on Facebook. He soon got a video from Bangladesh in which a man was surrounded by dozens of impoverished and hungry people holding bags of food, thanking him by his name (Michael) for his generous donation. "At this point, I’ve leaped out of my bed and I’m pacing. Part of me wants to scream, and 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," he writes.
He was soon filled with guilt and decided that he could not go from donating $15,000 to just $150 again and decided to give $1,500 instead. "The charity’s host was incredibly gracious and understanding, and he explained to me that $1,500 goes very far in Bangladesh for urgent food relief. Ultimately I think the whole experience was a win-win. I helped a great cause, and I got a funny story out of it."
Now, because of the reception the post got, the charity is receiving even more donations. Reddit useru/SomeoneNicer took to the comment section and wrote, "Something tells me this post is going to get them a lot more than $15,041 - look at the donations pouring in. Basically, you did them a solid and ended up getting them even more than the accidental deposit," while u/Sychosonik writes, "That put a pit in my stomach just reading. I can't imagine how you felt. LOL. Shit happens! Glad your neighbor was understanding and good for you for going the extra mile. Watch this post blow up and a shit ton of Redditors donate. That would be awesome."
