Sanai Graden met homeless Alonzo Douglas Hebron on the street in the American capital Washington DC in January. She was vlogging when the man asked her for tea. She eventually helped the man get medication and also paid for a hotel room, after which the video of their encounter went viral. (Continue reading below the video)
Everyone wanted to help the student take care of the man, so a GoFundMe page was set up. After their story also appeared in the press, the woman raised more than 400,000 dollars (about 370,000 euros) for Hebron. The woman was eager to help the homeless man, even after she discovered he had a criminal record for assaulting a homeless woman.
But just when the woman has enough resources to help the man, contact with him becomes very difficult. Hebron allegedly avoided her and lost his cell phone, which she bought for him. He also allegedly did not apply for identification documents, something that Graden had encouraged. “The situation quickly went from something positive to something negative.” Contact between the two was eventually completely broken. “I just wanted to give him shelter and medical care,” she said. “There’s only so much I can do. I can’t force him to do certain things. Ultimately he grew. I really tried to help him. I tried to change his whole life. But sometimes you want something for someone that they might not want for themselves.”
Graden has therefore decided to return the money collected. GoFundMe has since confirmed that the student has made such a request. “Since launching the fundraiser, GoFundMe has remained fully committed to helping deliver the funds raised to Mr. Hebron, just as donors intended,” the company said. “However, without the cooperation of the organizer or the beneficiary, it would not have been possible to deliver these funds to Mr. Hebron.”
However, there is a second GoFundMe page associated with the story. $25,000 was also raised for Graden herself to help her pay for her college expenses. It is not clear at the moment what will happen with this.
