Bullied Bus Monitor Plans to Retire

A journalist checks out the fundraising website indiegogo.com on June 21, 2012, in Washington, D.C. indiegogo.com started accepting donations, aiming to raise US$5,000 to send bus monitor Karen Klein on a vacation after the 68-year-old school bus monitor was bullied by 12- and 13-year-olds in the town of Greece in New York State. The online fundraising effort eventually raised a total of US$703,873. (Karen Bleier/AFP/GettyImages)

An American school bus monitor who was verbally abused is planning to retire early thanks to the fundraising efforts of Torontonian Max Sidorov.

After seeing a 10-minute video posted on YouTube showing bus monitor Karen Klein being severely verbally abused by four students from Green Athena Middle School in New York, Sidrov was heartbroken and began a fundraising campaign on indiegogo.com. Within the first 24 hours, Sidorov managed to raise $125,000, a big surprise—his original goal was $5,000. By the deadline, he had raised a grand total of $703,873.

Klein, who has eight grandchildren, one with Down syndrome and another with autism, is considering donating some of the money to organizations that work with disabled kids. Walt Disney Co. has offered Klein and up to nine family and friends a trip to Disney World. Southwest Airlines has offered to pay the flight tickets.

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