Nicholas Ivie, a U.S. Border Patrol Agent, was killed earlier this month while on duty, leaving behind a wife and two daughters. Billy Sanders, Ivie’s classmate at the Border Patrol Academy and former colleague at the Naco Border Patrol Station, has since turned to online crowdfunding to help Ivie’s family, raising almost $30,000 in less than a month.
Sanders created a campaign on the website gofundme.com to help his friend’s family recover. Even though Sanders and Ivie were not close friends, Sanders started the campaign because the fallen agent was “an extremely compassionate individual, he was a good person,” Sanders told Mashable.
“And I’m not saying that because he died or because he wore a badge,” he added.
Internet crowdfunding was the obvious choice for Sanders.
“The Internet is the best way to reach the most people,” he said in a phone interview. “I wouldn’t have been able to do that without that website,” he says, admitting that he didn’t have time to try traditional fundraising as it would have interfered with his work.
Also, setting up the actual page was, according to Sanders, “just so simple.” He says it took him around five minutes.
The majority of the money raised has already been donated directly to Ivie’s wife Christy and the Nicholas Ivie Memorial Fund, a fund set up by friends of the family. Gofundme retains 5% of every donation, but Sanders thinks that’s is a fair price to pay to help the family of his fallen fellow agent.
“That little percentage that they take, to me is worth it because there is no other way that I would’ve been able to reach so many people,” he says.
Do you think Internet crowdfunding is the best option for situations like this one? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Photo courtesy of Flickr, U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Update: a previous version of the article stated in its headline that Billy Sanders was still a Border Patrol agent whereas he is no longer.
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