Fund for bullied New York grandmother Karen Klein tops $330k... and rising

A fund set up for an upstate New York grandmother has taken in more than $330,000 in just over 24 hours after a video showing her being bullied by middle schoolers on a school bus went viral on the Inteet.

The ten-minute video, in which students from Athena Middle School in suburban Rochester insult 68-year-old bus monitor Karen Klein, making her cry, has received more than 1.8 million views on YouTube.

In an interview with the Today Show on Thursday about the video, Klein said "I'm sure they don't act that way at home, but you never know what they're going to do when they're out of the house. They should have been taught to respect their elders."

In response, a donation fund started on the website indiegogo.com reached $330,000 for Klein at 5:50 p.m. EDT on Thursday and was still climbing, according to a live tally posted on the site. The fund was created on Wednesday.

The post connected to the fund says that Klein "doesn't ea nearly enough" to deal with the children bullying her. "Let's give her something she will never forget, a vacation of a lifetime!"

 

Tormented: Klein, 68, was taunted and tormented by the middle school students in Greece, New York in a difficult-to-watch 10-minute video. She can be seen wiping away her tears in the footage

 

 

Unacceptable: At one point, a student says: 'If I stabbed you in the stomach, my knife would f***** go through like butter, because it’s all f***** lard'

Max Sidorov, who started the fund, told CNN he felt heartbroken for Klein after seeing the video. "I felt I had to do something for her," he said.

A statement from the Greece Central School District, where Athena Middle School is located, said police have become involved in an investigation of the incident, interviewing "all of those involved."

Shocked: Mrs Klein watched the 10-minute video for the first time Wednesday moing at the police station as she agreed to help authorities with the investigation

 

"We do not tolerate harassment of staff or students," the statement said.

Klein, whose Facebook page says she has been widowed for about 17 years, was scheduled to appear with Anderson Cooper on CNN and on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" later Thursday.