Cameron Mofid never imagined he was going to receive a sizeable donation – let alone from Kyrie Irving – when he set up a GoFundMe to raise funds for a school in a slum in Nigeria and an orphanage in Ghana that he had visited during a backpacking trip to West Africa. But the Dallas Maverick star’s generous act adds up to several other donations he has quietly made on the fundraising platform.
Mofid, a 22-year-old eager traveler who aspires to be one of the youngest people to visit every country on the planet, said he established the GoFundMe with a $5,000 goal. He said that in the first week of the campaign, they raised more than $10,000. The 22-year-old California native, on the other hand, said he awoke on Sunday to a $45,000 donation from Irving.
“When I woke up to GoFundMe and saw there was a donation for $45,000 I thought it was a mistake or some sort of scam mail at first. It took me a moment to realize that it was legitimate and that it came from Kyrie Irving,” Mofid, who has so far visited 119 out of 195 countries said.
“I entered a state of complete shock. My guess is that he saw the fundraiser because it was trending on GoFundMe. It’s evidence that every share and every donation, even those of $5, made an impact.”
Mofid graduated from the University of Miami with a bachelor’s degree and an MBA in December. On his trip to West Africa, the valedictorian stated he visited the “Part of Solution Nursery and Primary School” in a Nigerian slum and “The United People Home” in one of Ghana’s worst slums. He stated he started the GoFundMe to try to help the kids financially, and that the donations would ensure the students had adequate study materials and access to clean drinking water.
Mofid went on to say that Irving’s donation will be used to buy a water tank in Nigeria so that all 351 students would have access to safe drinking water, as well as to build the entire orphanage in Ghana.
“We initially raised enough to buy the land for the new orphanage in Ghana,” he told How Ng. “Kyrie’s donation should be enough to fund the entire building of the orphanage as well as a sports center for the kids. We already named a classroom in the school in Nigeria after him and the future sports complex at the orphanage in Ghana will be named after him as well.”
A Dallas Mavericks representative who Mofid says he contacted confirmed the NBA champion’s donation. “I was instructed by Kyrie that he wanted the donation to speak for itself,” Mofid explained. “That just goes to show how genuine his donation was. His deed of goodwill will benefit hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals.”
Mofid’s fundraising has raised more than $65,000, considerably exceeding the $5,000 objective. Furthermore, while Irving did not leave a note on Mofid’s fundraising, his act of kindness adds to other significant donations he has made on GoFundMe.
According to BBC Africa at the time, Irving donated $22,000 in December to help a young Howard University student complete her studies at the historically Black school. He also recently donated $22,000 to an aspiring herbalist who established a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for the start-up of her Massachusetts-based medicinal herb farm.
In addition, the basketball player donated $65,000 to the family of Shanquella Robinson, a Black woman who died while on vacation in Mexico with her friends. Irving also made another $50,000 GoFundMe donation to Devin Chandler’s family. Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. killed three students, including a University of Virginia football player.
