Captain Tom Moore’s goal was to raise $1,250 as a thank you to the frontline NHS staff currently battling COVID-19—and who recently helped him recover from a hip replacement and skin cancer.
Moore, a World War II veteran, sought to walk 100 laps in his garden in Bedfordshire, England, before his 100th birthday on April 30.
Using the fundraising site JustGiving under “Captain Tom Moore’s 100th Birthday Walk for the NHS,” the target amount originally seemed like “a stretch” to Moore’s daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore.
But the 99-year-old persisted. And so far, more than 949,237 people have donated to Moore’s fundraiser, far eclipsing Moore’s original goal. As it stands now, the veteran has raised £18,571,447 or $23,198,430.
The money raised will go to NHS Charities Together, a “collective experience representing, supporting and championing the work of the NHS’ official charities. NHS Charities give £1million a day to the NHS, providing vital funds to help the NHS do more,” according the Moore’s JustGiving page.
Moore, who lives with his daughter and her family, “became much less independent than he had been for the preceding 98 years” after his hip surgery, Ingrim-Moore told the BBC.
It was the veteran’s rehabbing walks in the family garden that gave them the idea for the fundraiser, and it has been proverbially off to the races since then.
And at 10-lap increments a day, Moore has no plans to stop. “Life is all about purpose—we all need purpose,” says Ingram-Moore.
In the face of COVID-19, Moore told BBC News, “Let’s all carry on and remember that things will get better. We have had problems before—we have overcome them—and we shall all overcome the same thing again.”