Mott Hall Bridges Academy-HONYphoto

Just one hour ago, the popular photography blog, Humans of New York, posted a plea to help fund field trips to Harvard for an inner city school, and this fundraiser has taken off like nothing we’ve seen.

6000 people have donated and it’s already blown past its goal of $100,000.

It all started after Brandon, the blog’s founder, posted a photo of a little boy from a neighborhood with the worst crime rate in the city of New York, Brownsville, Brooklyn.

When asked who was his hero, he named principal, Nadia Lopez at Mott Hall Bridges Academy. Ms. Lopez sets high expectation for him — and every other neighborhood sixth grader who comes to her school. She tells the African-American children that they are descended from the people who invented Math and Astronomy.

Nadia Lopez principla HumansOfNewYork
“This is a neighborhood that doesn’t necessarily expect much from our children, so at Mott Hall Bridges Academy we set our expectations very high. We don’t call the children ‘students,’ we call them ‘scholars.’ Our color is purple. Our scholars wear purple and so do our staff. Because purple is the color of royalty.”

Brandon wanted to meet the principal. After taking her photo, they talked about how his huge online community (HONY) could help. Humans in New York has 10 million followers on social media.

“Since many of her scholars have never left New York, she wants them to know what it feels like to stand on the campus of one of the world’s top schools, and know that they belong,” he wrote on the fundraising page. “She thinks the experience will broaden their horizons and expand their idea of their own potential.”

“We estimate the cost of a trip, including transportation and lodging, will be about $30,000 (for the entire sixth grade class), so let’s really hit it out of the park for these kids.”

The HONY community is doing that — and much more. In the minutes it took me to write this story, another $10,000 was raised.

UPDATE: (Jan. 27) More than 29,000 donors have opened their wallets giving $873,765 in 5 days.

CHECK Out the fundraiser at Indiegogo / Photos courtesy of Humans of New York / Story tip from Lisa Kopf Malaniak

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