Photo: Carson King/Twitter
The college football fan, whowent viral last monthwith a sign asking for beer money, has now raised over $3 million for charity.
On Friday,Carson Kingpresented a check for $3,004,000 to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, according toThe Iowa City Press-Citizen.During the presentation, King — an Iowa State University fan — transferred the money from his Venmo account to the hospital alongside patient Camdyn Reisner.
About 35,000 people have donated to King’s Venmo account since he made headlines last month, thePress-Citizenreports.
Suresh Gunasekaran, the CEO of UI Hospitals and Clinics, called everyone who donated heroes on Friday, according to thePress-Citizen, and thanked King for “inspiring a whole nation.”
King, 24, posteda photoof the presentation to his Twitter account on Saturday, adding a simple caption: “Speechless.”
Carson King/Twitter
King first started getting donations to his Venmo account last month, after hemade a homemade sign asking viewersof ESPN’sCollege GameDayto donate to his Venmo account so he could afford to stock up on beer.
Carson King.Courtesy Carson King
By the end of the day, he’d accumulated more than $1,000 — and quickly realized that the fast-growing cash would be put to better use at the children’s hospital, as opposed to his wallet.
“With all the donations my @CollegeGameDay sign for @BuschBeer has received, I will be donating all but enough for a case of Busch Light to @uiowa Children’s Hospital,” hewroteon Twitter on Sept. 14.
Within days, Busch Beer was on board too, and so was Venmo, witheach companypromising to match King’s donation — pushing his total above $1 million.
Earlier this month, Kingtweetedthat he had crossed the $3 million mark.
“We Did It!” he wrote. “Thank you to all the Local Busch Light Distributors across the state for the final $41,000.00, making this last push possible! 3 Million Dollars for @UIchildrens!”
Last month, King told PEOPLE that he chose the hospital because “they are amazing at what they do” in helping patients and their families, and also because it shares a special connection to his love of football.
“The University of Iowa does the wave to the kids since the hospital overlooks the stadium, and being I’m an Iowa State University fan, I figured this would be my way to help out,” he said.
source: people.com
